'X, 


XL, 


r    JS~\-jQ 


U1H?.  OP  CALIF.  LIBRARY.  LOS  ANGELED 


[See  p.  141 

'SEIZING  THE  HEAVY  AXE,  GOODY  DROVE  A  COLD-CHISEL 
THROUGH  THE  CABLE" 


ADVENTURES  OF 
UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 


BY 

COMMANDER    R.    E.    PEARY,    U.S.N. 

CAPTAIN    A.  V.   WADHAMS,    U.S.N. 

MOLLY    ELLIOT    SEAWELL 

FRANKLIN  MATTHEWS 

KIRK  MUNROE 

AND  OTHERS 

ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

HARPER   6-   BROTHERS   PUBLISHERS 

MCMVII 


HARPER'S  ADVENTURE   SERIES 

Each  Post  8vo,  Illustrated,  60  cents. 

Here  are  some  of  the  best  tales  of  adventure 
which  have  been  written  for  younger  readers  of 
recent  years.  These  stories  have  been  carefully 
selected  with  a  view  to  interest  and  wholesome 
excitement.  They  are  the  kind  of  stories  that 
hold  the  reader  fast  and  keep  him  wondering  as 
to  the  outcome.  They  also  convey  a  measure 
of  historical  and  general  information.  Each 
book  has  one  central  subject,  and  each  subject 
is  one  that  is  of  engrossing  interest  to  younger 
readers.  Some  of  these  books  are  as  follows: 

ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS.  By 
COMMANDER  R.  K.  PEAKY,  U.  S.  N.,  MOLLY  ELLIOT  SKA- 
WELL,  KIKK  MUNKOK,  WILLIAM  J.  HENDERSON,  CAPTAIN 
ALBION  V.  WADHAMS,  U.  S.  N.,  and  others. 

ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SOLDIERS.  By 
GEN.  CHARLES  KING,  GEN.  G.  A.  FORSYTH,  CAPTAIN 
CHARLES  A.  CURTIS,  LIEUT.  CHARLES  D  RHODES,  JOHN 
HABBERTON,  and  others. 

ADVENTURES  WITH  INDIANS.  By  PHILIP  V.  MIGHELS, 
W.  O.  STODDARD,  and  others. 

ADVENTURES  WITH  PIRATES.  By  REAR-ADMIRAL 
JOHN  H.  UPSHUR,  G.  E.  WALSH,  JOHN  KENDRICK  BANGS, 
R.  GOURLEY,  and  others. 

ADVENTURES  AT  SEA.  By  REAR-ADMIRAL  T.  H. 
STEVENS,  F.  H.  SPEARMAN,  WILLIAM  J.  HENDERSON, 
and  others. 


Copyright,  1907,  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS. 

Alt  rights  reserved, 
Published  July,  1907. 


CONTENTS 
i 

IN  THE  ARCTIC 
BY  COMMANDER  ROBERT  E.  PEARY,  U.  S.  N. 

THE   STORY   OF   A   GUIDON 
What  a   Flag   Saw   in   the  North 

OUR   ARCTIC   HOME 

The   Building    of  the  House   in  which  the  Arctic 

Explorer,  his  Wife,  and  their  Party,  Spent 

a   Tear  in  Northern   Greenland 

KYOAHPADU   THE   ANGAKOK 
The   Tale  of  an   Esquimau  Mediane-man 


n 

YARNS   BELOW 

CRYING   TOMMY 

The  Story  of  an  dp  prentice-boy  Who  Saved  the  Ship 

BY  MOLLY  ELLIOT  SEAWELL 

iii 


CONTENTS 

THE    FLAG    OF    THE    FIRST    CUTTER 
At  the  Battle  of  Mobile  Bay 
BY  CHARLES  LEDYARD  NORTON 

THE    RESCUE    OF    McMASTERS 

How   a   Medal   of  Honor  was    Won    off  Hatter  as 

BY  FRANKLIN  MATTHEWS 

THE    PROFESSOR'S   SCORPION 

A    Midshipman's    Adventure    in     Upper     Guinea 

BY  ROGER  STARBUCK 

THE    MID-AIR   SIGNAL 

In     the    Ice     of    Kamtchatka 

BY  ROGER  STARBUCK 

A   DUEL    WITH    HARPOONS 

The    Skipper's    Naval    History    and    its    Results 
BY  PAUL  HULL 

HOW  THE  POWDER-BOY  GAVE    US  COURAGE 
BY  CAPTAIN  ALBION  V.  WADHAMS,  U.  S.  N. 

THE    YOUNGEST    FILIBUSTER 

Tontito  and  the  Naval  Officers 

BY  KIRK  MUNROE 

A   SCARED    FIGHTER 

An   Incident  of  the   War  with  Spain 

BY  WILLIAM  J.  HENDERSON 

iv 


CONTENTS 

THE    BRAINS    OF   A    WAR-SHIP 

How  a  Cruiser  is  Managed 

BY  WILLIAM  J.  HENDERSON 

III 

TALES   OF   STRANGE   EVENTS 

THE    FIRST   AMERICAN    BOYS    IN   JAPAN 

The  Opening  of  an  Ancient  Empire 

BY  WILLIAM  DRYSDALE 

THE    TALE    OF   AN    EARTHQUAKE 

And  the  Strange  Journey   of  the  "  Wateree  " 

BY  LIEUTENANT  E.  W.  STURDY 

THE   WRECK   OF  THE   WAR-SHIPS  AT  SAMOA 
A  Story  of  Heroism   and   Tragedy 

A  WINTER'S  MORNING  IN  THE  YELLOW  SEA 

An  Incident  of  the   China-Japanese    War 

BY  AN  AMERICAN  NAVAL  OFFICER 

ON   THE    BLOCKADE 

T he    Tale    of    a    Night-Alarm 

BY  YATES  STIRLING,  U.  S.  N. 

DERELICTS    OF    THE    SEA 

And  the  Navy's   Work   in   Destroying  Them 

BY  CAPTAIN  HOWARD  PATTERSON 

THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  OLD  NAVY 

BY  FRANKLIN  MATTHEWS 

v 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

"SEIZING  THE  HEAVY  AXE,  GOODY  DROVE  A 

COLD-CHISEL  THROUGH  THE  CABLE"     .      .         Frontitpiece 
KYOAHPADU    THE   ANGAKOK   (MEDICINE-MAN)   .   Facing  p.    32 

"  I  GUESS  YOU  FORGET  WHAT  FLAG  IS  FLYING 

AFT'" "  112 

'"QUIEN  SABE!'  REPLIED  THE  YOUNG  CUBAN"  "  124 
"THE   THUNDEROUS  SHOCK  OF  THE   MIGHTY 

EIGHT-INCH  MAKES  THE  DECK  JUMP "  .     .  "  156 

"THE  RACE  WAS  OVER" "  200 

"A  HEAVY  CRASH  PROVES  THAT  A  COLLISION 

HAS  OCCURRED" "  214 

THE  WRECK  OF  THE  "KEARSARGE"  .  "  228 


iHE  adventures  of  the  officers  and 
sailors  of  our  navy  are  as  varied 
as  the  shifting  scenes  of  their  lives. 
These  changes  are  reflected  in  the 
pages  of  this  book  as  we  pass  from  the  Arctic 
Circle  to  the  Tropics,  and  from  China  to 
Hatteras  and  the  West  Indies.  Wherever  the 
scene  may  be,  the  history  of  our  navy  from 
its  foundation  in  1775  and  the  yarns  of  fo'c's'le 
and  ward  -  room  tell  a  story  of  which  every 
American  may  well  be  proud.  Such  books  as 
President  Woodrow  Wilson's  History  of  the 
American  People,  and  several  volumes  of  the 
American  Nation  series,  and  Mr.  Barnes's 
Naval  Actions  of  1812,  show  a  roll  of  fame 
which  has  continued  from  the  fight  of  the  Bon 
Homme  Richard  and  Serapis  to  the  annihila- 
tion of  Cervera's  fleet;  but  we  must  remember, 
also,  that  one  great  object  of  a  navy  is  to  pre- 


INTRODUCTION 

vent  war,  and  its  work  is  of  constant  value  in 
times  of  peace. 

No  war  could  offer  severer  tests  of  courage 
and  endurance  than  the  Arctic  expeditions  of 
Commander  Peary,  who,  in  the  year  1906, 
planted  the  American  flag  nearer  the  north 
pole  than  any  one  has  ever  gone  before.  This 
book  opens  with  the  gallant  explorer's  own 
descriptions  of  his  Arctic  life,  when,  in  1891- 
1892,  he  remained  in  the  North,  and  deter- 
mined that  Greenland  is  an  island,  and  dis- 
covered Melville  Land  and  Heilprin  Land, 
which  lie  beyond. 

The  second  part  of  this  volume  offers  stories 
of  thrilling  and  also  amusing  experiences  on 
the  part  of  officers  and  men  in  different 
parts  of  the  globe.  These  stories  are,  frank- 
ly, "yarns,"  but  often  founded  upon  a  con- 
siderable measure  of  fact.  The  book  closes 
with  some  actual  narratives,  which  include  the 
opening  of  Japan,  the  story  of  the  tidal  wave 
which  swept  an  American  war  -  ship  inland 
in  South  America,  the  wonderful  story  of  peril 
and  heroism  in  the  great  storm  at  Samoa,  and 
other  actual  events  of  thrilling  interest.  At 
the  end  we  are  taken  back  to  the  days  of  the 
old  wooden  ships  which  have  now  practically 


INTRODUCTION 

disappeared  from  active  service.  But  the  skill 
and  courage  of  American  officers  and  sailors, 
and  our  pride  in  a  navy  adapted  to  the  just 
needs  of  a  great  but  peaceful  country,  are  as 
constant  in  these  days  as  in  the  time  of  oaken 
walls  manned  by  hearts  of  oak. 


I 
IN    THE    ARCTIC 


ADVENTURES   OF 
UNCLE   SAM'S  SAILORS 

THE    STORY    OF    A    GUIDON 

What  a  Flag  Saw  in  the  North 

AM  a  Guidon,  a  silken  Guidon  with 
a  blazing  golden  star.  I  am  frayed 
and  faded  now  by  furious  winds 
and  fierce  blinding  sunlight;  but 
once  I  was  bright  and  new,  and  I  have  seen 
sights  that  eyes  never  saw  before.  I  have 
seen  the  bright  stars  glitter  through  the  freez- 
ing air  day  and  night  for  weeks,  with  never  a 
ray  of  blessed  sunlight  to  dim  their  lustre,  and 
I  have  seen  the  glorious  sun  roll  round  the 
white  horizon  night  and  day  for  months  with- 
out ever  hiding  his  yellow  face.  All  this  and 

more  have  I  seen  in  the  far  North. 
3 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

I  first  saw  the  light  one  Christmas,  in  a  tiny 
room  lined  with  warm,  red  blankets,  far  up  in 
the  land  of  eternal  ice  and  snow.  The  soft 
fingers  of  a  fairy-faced  woman  had  fashioned 
me  as  a  Christmas  gift  for  one  she  loved.  I 
heard  her  tell  him  afterwards,  with  her  head 
on  his  shoulder,  that  she  had  made  me  from 
an  embroidered  silken  handkerchief,  a  present 
to  him  when  a  lover,  and  the  star  was  a  bit  of 
silk  from  a  tea-gown  which  she  had  worn  as  a 
bride.  He  gave  her  an  ivory  hairpin  which  he 
had  carved  from  the  horn  of  a  great  narwhal, 
and  this,  with  a  fine  dinner,  was  all  the  Christ- 
mas there  was  at  the  little  house,  for  old  Santa 
Claus  had  gone  south  several  days  before  to 
call  on  the  good  little  boys  and  girls  at  home. 
Then,  too,  I  heard  it  whispered  that  Santa  was 
not  on  very  good  terms  with  him,  for  he  had, 
while  out  hunting,  shot  one  of  the  reindeer  be- 
longing to  Santa's  team,  and  though  he  was 
very  sorry,  and  she  offered  to  give  Santa  her 
black  Newfoundland  dog,  Jack,  who  had  been 
trained  to  pull  a  sleigh,  to  take  the  deer's  place, 
Santa  wouldn't  have  him,  and  didn't  quite  for- 
give the  accident. 

After  she  had  given  me  to  him,  he  took  me 
and  hung  me  up  in  the  opening  between  two 


THE  STORY  OF  A  GUIDON 

silken  flags  which  curtained  off  a  bed  at  one 
end  of  the  little  room,  and  there  I  hung  for 
weeks. 

The  only  way  that  I  could  tell  about  the  time 
was  by  the  lamp  in  the  room.  This  burned 
during  the  day  and  was  put  out  at  night,  but 
during  all  this  time  no  ray  of  daylight  ever 
came  through  the  windows.  Sometimes  I  saw 
a  star  twinkle  through  the  window,  and  some- 
times I  got  a  glimpse  of  great  snow-covered 
mountains  bathed  in  bright  moonlight.  At 
other  times  the  little  house  trembled  with  the 
fury  of  the  storms',  and  for  days  at  a  time  I 
heard  the  muffled  roar  of  the  wind  and  snow 
whirling  in  blinding  drifts  over  the  roof.  In 
the  little  bedroom  it  was  always  warm  and 
cozy ;  but  that  it  was  bitter  cold  outside  I  knew, 
because  when  the  Commander  and  his  wife 
would  come  in  from  their  snow-shoe  tramps, 
their  eyebrows  and  eyelashes  would  have  little 
icicles  on  them,  and  his  beard  would  be  such  a 
solid  mass  of  ice  that  he  would  have  to  hold 
his  face  in  a  basin  of  warm  water  to  thaw  it 
off. 

Soon  after  this  I  heard  a  strange  chattering 
in  the  other  room  of  the  house,  and  a  wild 
dark  face  in  a  fur  hood  looked  through  the 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

door ;  then  its  owner  came  in,  and  two  or  three 
others  followed.  At  first  I  was  afraid  of  these 
strange  creatures,  with  their  black  eyes,  long 
hair,  and  clothes  of  reindeer  and  fox  and 
shaggy  bear  skins,  which  made  them  look  as 
broad  as  they  were  tall;  but  I  soon  got  over 
this  when  I  saw  how  merry  they  were,  though 
I  could  never  quite  like  to  have  them  near  mo 
— they  were  so  dirty,  and  smelled  so  disagree- 
able. After  this  they  used  to  come  every  once 
in  a  while,  and  I  heard  that  some  of  them  had 
ridden  two  hundred  miles  on  a  sledge  drawn 
by  great,  savage  dogs,  just  to  see  the  Kapitan- 
soak,  or  great  Captain,  as  they  called  him,  and 
particularly  to  see  his  wife,  for  they  had  never 
seen  a  white  woman  or  a  woman  that  wore 
dresses  before.  The  Commander  used  to  show 
them  a  little  mirror,  and  when  they  saw  their 
faces  in  it  they  would  shout  and  clap  their 
hands,  just  like  a  baby  when  it  gets  a  rattle, 
for  they  had  never  seen  one  before.  Then  she 
would  give  the  children  candy,  and  their 
mothers  a  bright  needle,  and  they  would  go 
away  more  delighted  than  you  would  be  with 
a  twenty-dollar  gold  piece. 

The  very  little  children  were  carried  on  their 

mothers'  backs  in  a  great,  warm  hood,  but  the 
6 


THE  STORY  OF  A  GUIDON 

larger  ones  were  dressed  in  furs  just  like  their 
father  and  mother.  I  remember  one  little  boy 
who  had  on  a  fox-skin  coat  with  a  hood,  a  bird- 
skin  shirt,  bear  -  skin  trousers  and  boots,  and 
rabbit-skin  stockings.  His  sister,  a  year  older, 
had  the  same  kind  of  coat,  but  her  trousers 
were  shorter,  and  were  made  of  fox-skin;  and 
her  boots,  of  seal-skin,  were  much  longer.  Her 
stockings  were  made  of  deer-skin. 

It  must  have  been  at  least  six  weeks  after 
Christmas  that  I  noticed  through  the  window, 
at  noon,  a  sort  of  twilight,  and  then  I  heard 
them  saying  that  the  sun  was  coining  back. 
Then  one  day  the  Commander  put  on  his  fur 
clothes,  took  me  down,  put  me  in  his  bosom, 
and  said  he  was  going  up  on  the  great  ice-cap 
to  see  the  sunrise. 

After  this  I  saw  nothing,  but  I  could  hear 
that  he,  with  the  doctor  and  Astrup,  carrying 
their  food  and  sleeping-bags  on  their  backs, 
climbed  up  a  great  mountain,  cutting  steps  in 
the  snow  in  some  places,  then  walked  far  out 
over  the  great,  white  ice-cap,  and  when  night 
came  on  they  built  a  snow-house,  and  putting 
their  sleeping-bags  inside,  went  to  bed  to  sleep 
till  the  next  day,  when  the  sun  was  to  come 
back.  But  scarcely  had  they  got  nicely  settled 
7 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

in  their  house  when  a  furious  snow-storm  came 
up,  the  wind  howled  in  savage  fury  across  the 
wild,  frozen  desert,  and  the  cutting,  drifting 
snow  scoured  the  top  and  sides  off  their  snow- 
house  and  left  them  entirely  exposed  to  the 
wild  storm.  Their  great,  warm,  deer-skin  bags 
kept  them  comfortable,  however,  and  towards 
morning  of  the  second  day  the  full  moon  broke 
through  the  clouds  and  sent  them  flying  away 
into  the  frozen  interior.  Then  they  got  up  as 
best  they  could  in  their  sleeping-bags,  for  every- 
thing was  buried  deep  in  the  snow,  and  dug 
out  their  clothes  and  their  alcohol -stove.  By 
this  time  it  was  nearly  noon,  the  time  for  the 
sun  to  show  its  head  above  the  great  white 
mountains  in  the  south,  and  I  was  taken  from 
out  of  the  Commander's  bosom  and  fastened  to 
an  alpenstock  planted  in  the  snow.  Never  shall 
I  forget  the  sight  as  the  cold,  white  wind  shook 
me  out.  Close  by  me  fluttered  three  other  flags ; 
near  us  was  the  huge  drift  which  marked  the 
site  of  the  snow-house,  with  the  sleeping-bags 
scattered  about  it.  In  every  direction  stretched 
the  white  surface  of  the  ice  -  cap,  which  the 
wind  had  carved  into  miniature  waves.  The 
southern  sky  was  a  conflagration  of  crimson 

and   rose   and   purple    and   green   clouds   and 
8 


THE   STORY  OF  A  GUIDON 

lights  about  one  dazzling  yellow  spot  where  the 
sun  was  about  to  burst  upward. 

I  hardly  had  time  to  see  all  this  when  the 
wind  freshened,  and  I  and  my  companions  flew 
out  into  the  sparkling  air  and  fluttered  and 
laughed  with  delight.  Then  the  yellow  sun- 
light fell  upon  the  summit  of  the  highest  cliff 
of  Northumberland  Island;  next  Cape  Robert- 
son blazed  with  a  crown  of  glory,  and  then  the 
yellow  sun  itself  peered  over  the  southern  ice- 
cap, and  in  an  instant  the  snow-waves  about  us 
danced,  a  sea  of  molten  gold.  Nor  wealth  nor 
fame  can  purchase  from  me  the  supreme  mem- 
ory of  that  moment  when,  with  my  Com- 
mander, far  above  the  earth,  I  laughed  with 
the  laughing  waves  of  the  great  white  inland 
sea  in  greeting  to  the  long-absent  sun.  For 
many  minutes  we  watched  the  glorious  god  of 
light  roll  along  the  southern  ice-cap;  then  the 
Commander  took  me  down  and  put  me  in  his 
bosom  again.  Never  before  had  flag  or  pen- 
nant welcomed  the  returning  sun  from  the  sur- 
face of  the  great  frozen  desert. 

After  this  I  hung  again  for  several  weeks  in 
the  little  red  room.  Once  both  the  Commander 
and  his  wife  were  away  for  a  long  time,  and 
when  thev  came  back  I  used  to  hear  them  talk- 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

ing  of  the  strange  people  they  had  seen,  and 
how  they  had  dashed  at  a  wild  gallop  over  the 
frozen  sea  behind  a  dozen  or  twenty  great, 
wolfish  dogs,  and  had  slept  on  the  snow  at 
night,  wrapped  in  their  reindeer-skin  sleeping- 
bags.  I,  however,  saw  nothing  of  this. 

Then  one  May  day  the  Commander  took  me 
down,  and  there  were  tears  in  his  wife's  eyes 
as  he  put  me  in  his  bosom  again,  for  this  time 
he  was  going  away  alone,  to  be  gone  for  months 
on  the  long,  white  journey  to  the  north  which 
they  had  talked  so  much  about. 

It  must  have  been  several  days  after  this 
that  he  took  me  out  and  pressed  me  to  his  lips, 
then  fastened  me  to  a  bamboo  staff  and  planted 
rne  in  the  snow.  I  found  myself  once  more  on 
the  great  ice-cap.  ISTow,  however,  no  distant 
mountain-tops  could  be  seen,  only  the  unbroken 
white  horizon  in  every  direction.  The  sun 
shone  brightly,  and  near  me  were  sixteen  great 
dogs,  fastened  to  stakes  driven  in  the  snow. 
and  four  sledges,  and  three  men  besides  the 
Commander,  all  dressed  in  furs.  I  at  once 
saw  that  it  was  a  camp,  and  that  preparations 
were  being  made  for  the  evening  meal.  When 
this  was  cooked  and  eaten  each  of  the  men 

fastened   his   clothes   tightly   about   him,    and 
10 


THE  STORY  OF  A  GUIDON 

lay  down  behind  his  sledge  to  sleep.  The  Com- 
mander lay  down  beneath  me,  and  all  the  time, 
while  they  slept,  I  waved  and  rustled  in  the 
wind,  and  watched  the  weather,  to  warn  them 
by  a  louder  whisper  of  coming  storms. 

From  that  time  on  for  nearly  a  hundred 
days  I  never  slept,  and  the  great  sun  whirled 
ceaselessly  around  the  heavens,  never  once 
hiding  his  face  below  the  horizon.  After  sleep- 
ing several  hours,  the  Commander  awoke  and 
called  one  of  the  others,  who  got  up  and  made 
some  tea,  which  they  all  drank  with  some 
crackers  and  pemmican.  Then  the  sleeping- 
bags  were  rolled  up  and  placed  on  the  sledges, 
the  sledges  firmly  lashed,  and  the  dogs  attached 
to  them.  Then  the  Commander  fastened  on 
his  snow-shoes,  took  me  in  hand,  and  strode 
off  to  the  north,  calling  to  the  dogs  of  his  team. 
With  a  joyous  yelp,  Miss  Tawanah  leaped  into 
the  air  in  an  effort  to  follow  him;  ISTalegak- 
soak,  Pau,  and  Panickpa  followed,  straining 
in  their  traces;  the  sledge  moved,  the  others 
started,  and  soon  we  were  merrily  under  way. 

After  five  or  six  hours  they  paused  for 
luncheon,  and  then  five  or  six  hours  later,  after 
travelling  twenty  miles  or  more,  the  Com- 
mander stopped  and  planted  me  in  the  snow 
11 


ADVENTURES' OF  UNCLE   SAM'S  SAILORS 

again.  This,  as  I  afterwards  learned,  was  the 
signal  that  the  day's  work  was  ended.  As  soon 
as  the  sledges  came  up  the  dogs  were  taken 
from  them  and  fastened  to  stakes  driven  in 
the  snow,  a  little  to  one  side.  While  one  of  the 
men  began  cooking  dinner  on  the  alcohol-stove, 
the  Commander  took  some  pemmican  from  the 
sledge,  and  cutting  it  into  lumps,  fed  the  dogs. 
What  a  racket  they  made  as  they  fought  and 
tugged  at  their  lines  in  their  efforts  to  get  at 
him  first!  In  a  few  minutes  they  had  bolted 
their  dinner,  and  lay  down  in  the  snow  to 
sleep.  Then  the  four  fur-clad  figures  ate  their 
dinners  and  drank  their  hot  tea,  and  then  they, 
too,  lay  down  in  the  snow  behind  the  sledges, 
and  soon  were  fast  asleep — all  except  the  Com- 
mander. He  took  a  strange-looking  instrument 
out  of  a  box,  set  it  in  the  snow,  then  looked 
through  it  at  the  sun,  then  wrote  in  a  little 
book,  and  did  this  for  more  than  an  hour.  But 
at  last  he,  too,  went  to  sleep,  and  left  me  alone 
fluttering  over  the  sleeping  camp,  and  making 
friends  with  the  great  yellow  sun  that  matched 
my  yellow  star  so  beautifully. 

So,  day  after  day,  we  journeyed  northward 
over  the  white  desert,  he  and  I  always  in  ad- 
vance, travelling  straight  as  the  flight  of  an 
12 


THE  STORY  OF  A  GUIDON 

arrow,  and  the  dog-sledges  following  in  our 
tracks.  At  first  I  was  afraid  of  the  dogs,  and 
feared  that  if  I  should  fall  down  or  the  wind 
blew  me  over  some  time,  some  of  them  would 
eat  me.  They  were  such  great,  savage  brutes, 
with  such  long,  white  teeth,  and  they  fought 
with  one  another  like  wolves.  But  they  all 
loved  the  Commander,  because  he  always  fed 
them  himself,  and  fixed  their  harnesses  if  they 
did  not  fit,  and  I  used  to  like  to  see  them  crowd 
around  him  and  rub  against  his  legs  when  he 
came  in  the  morning  to  untie  them.  Then  he 
would  pat  their  heads  and  rub  their  chins  till 
they  would  jump  up  on  him  with  low  growls  of 
dog  satisfaction,  until  I  could  hardly  believe 
that  these  same  dogs  had  fought  and  killed 
many  a  fierce  white  bear — "  the  tiger  of  the 
north." 

After  a  time  I  got  to  know  them  all — ISTa- 
legaksoak,  the  King ;  Pau,  Nalegak  Martloo,  or 
Lion,  as  he  called  him ;  Miss  Tawanah,  Pa- 
nickpa,  Merktoshar,  Arngodoblaho,  and  the 
rest;  but  I  liked  the  Commander's  team  best 
— partly  because  they  knew  me.  There  was 
big  Nalegaksoak,  the  King,  and  Pau,  his  black 
brother;  Miss  Tawanah,  a  dog  with  one  eye 

(but  that  eye  was  alwavs  on  the  lookout  for 
13" 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

him),  and  the  two  Panickpas.  They  soon  got 
acquainted  with  me,  and  learned  to  know  me. 
When  the  Commander  took  me  in  his  hand 
and  started  off,  they  tugged  at  their  traces  until 
the  sledge  started;  then  they  trotted  merrily 
along  at  his  heels.  Sometimes,  towards  night, 
they  would  get  a  little  tired  and  lag  behind; 
but  when  he  stood  me  in  the  snow,  and,  turn- 
ing round,  would  call,  "  Come  on,  boys ;  Irak, 
huk,  huk,  nannook,  nannook,"  how  they  would 
yelp  and  growl,  and  come  galloping  up  until 
they  could  lick  his  hands,  and  then  lie  down 
about  me!  JSTalegaksoak  and  Pau  used  to 
jump  up  at  me,  and  try  to  play  with  me  as  I 
fluttered  in  the  wind ;  and  after  a  time  I  learn- 
ed a  little  of  their  language  and  used  to  hear 
them  talking  about  their  bear-fights,  and  won- 
dering where  he  was  taking  them  to. 

After  we  had  been  marching  many  days,  we 
stopped  longer  than  usual  one  night,  and  when 
we  started  again  there  was  only  the  Com- 
mander and  one  companion,  the  other  two  go- 
ing back,  I  heard  him  say,  to  the  little  house. 

After  that  we  kept  on  day  after  day,  always 
northward. 

Sometimes  I  could  see  just  the  tops  of  great 
mountains,  miles  and  miles  away,  and  some- 
14 


THE  STORY  OF  A  GUIDON 

times  there  were  great  blue  chasms  in  the  ice, 
which  we  had  to  go  around. 

There  were  great  storms,  when  for  two  or 
three  days  neither  the  Commander  nor  his 
companion  could  get  out  of  their  burrow  in  the 
snow,  and  when  the  furious  wind  and  the  rush- 
ing white  river  of  snow  below  me  used  to  make 
me  dizzy. 

At  last  we  came  to  a  strange  northern  land, 
and  if  I  should  tell  you  all  the  wonderful 
things  I  saw  there  it  would  take  a  book — how 
the  Commander  shot  the  great  musk-oxen,  and 
how  the  brave  dogs  feasted  on  their  meat  till 
they  could  eat  no  more ;  how  we  saw  birds  and 
flowers  and  butterflies;  and  how  at  last  we 
came  out  on  a  great  precipice,  far  up  the  east 
coast  of  Greenland;  and  how  he  put  me  up  on 
a  pile  of  stones  and  let  me  look  out  upon  the 
great  frozen  Arctic  Ocean,  which  no  eyes  had 
ever  seen  before;  then  how  we  returned  over 
the  frozen  desert ;  and  finally  he  gave  me  back 
into  the  fair  hands  that  had  made  me,  and  here 
I  am. 


OUR    ARCTIC    HOME 

The  Building  of  the  House   in  which  the  Arctic 

Explorer,   his   Wife,  and  their  Party,  Spent 

a   Tear  in  Northern   Greenland 

|T  was  the  latter  part  of  July,  and 
the  mild,  yet  beautiful,  landscape 
about  McCormick  Bay  lay  soft  and 
dreamy  in  weather  such  as  only  the 
brilliant,  glowing  arctic  summer  can  produce. 
The  sun  was  just  rising  from  the  lowest  part 
of  its  nearly  horizontal  course  above  the  tops 
of  the  ice-capped  northern  din's.  The  dark- 
brown  and  red  cliffs  on  the  south  shore  of  the 
bay  shimmered  in  the '  yellow  light.  Down 
every  valley  ran  the  silver  ribbon  of  a  mur- 
muring brook,  a  deer  or  two  browsed  leisurely, 
and  flocks  V  of  snow  -  buntings  twittered  and 
chirped  over  the  moss-carpeted,  flower-besprin- 
kled slopes  between  the  shore  and  the  cliffs, 
while  millions  of  little  auks  kept  the  air  alive 

16 


OUR  ARCTIC  HOME 

with  their  querulous  cries  and  the  rapid  beat 
of  their  whirring  wings. 

All  was  warmth  and  light  and  exuberant 
life.  Only  the  surface  of  the  bay  was  still  held 
in  the  icy  fetters  of  the  long  winter  night. 
Even  it,  however,  was  soon  to  be  free.  A  broad 
river  of  gleaming  water  ran  close  to  the  shore, 
every  glistening  berg  floated  in  an  open  lake 
in  which  sported  seals,  narwhals,  and  schools 
of  white  whales,  and  narrow  lanes  of  water 
ran  in  every  direction  through  the  rotten  ice, 
cutting  it  into  great  floes,  which  floated  slowly 
back  and  forth  with  the  tide.  You  would  never 
believe  that  the  glowing  summer  scene  was 
thirty  miles  farther  north  than  the  place  where 
the  unfortunate  Jeannette  was  crushed  in  the 
ice. 

Suddenly  a  strange  apparition  came  into 
view  around  the  cape  which  terminated  the 
line  of  red  cliffs.  This  apparition  floated 
higher  out  of  the  water  than  the  ice-cakes,  and 
was  black.  A  great  black  cloud  trailed  from 
it,  and  it  moved  slowly  through  the  rotten  ice. 
It  was  the  steamer  Kite,  bearing  a  little  party 
in  search  of  an  arctic  home.  Never  before  had 
such  an  apparition  appeared  in  McConnick 
Bay,  though  perhaps  the  great  rocks  on  top  of 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

the  cliffs,  three  hundred  years  ago,  when  their 
eyes  were  younger  and  stronger,  might  have 
seen  the  glint  of  Baffin's  sail  as  he  lay  at  anchor 
that  4th  of  July  in  1616  off  "  Hakluyts  Isle," 
and  they  might  have  seen  the  ships  of  Kane  in 
1853,  and  Hayes  in  1860,  beating  northward, 
far  out  under  the  western  sun. 

Slowly  and  steadily  the  Kite  steamed  on 
until  well  up  the  bay,  when  she  stopped,  and 
two  boats  were  lowered  and  pulled  off,  one 
for  the  south  shore  and  one  for  the  north.  The 
snow-buntings,  the  deer,  and  the  little  auks 
went  on  with  their  various  occupations  undis- 
turbed, but  the  white  whales,  affrighted  by  the 
appearance  of  such  a  monster  black  fish,  have 
disappeared.  As  soon  as  the  boats  landed, 
their  occupants  scattered  in  every  direction  and 
covered  the  ground,  searching  for  a  house  site, 
and  when  they  had  seen  the  entire  shore  they 
returned  to  the  Kite  to  report.  It  was  not 
such  an  easy  thing  to  select  the  place  for  the 
house,  because  there  were  so  many  things  to 
be  provided  for,  and  then  the  one  with  whom 
the  decision  rested  was  obliged  to  see  with  the 
eyes  of  others,  as  he  lay  in  the  cabin  a  prisoner 
with  a  broken  leg. 


OUR  ARCTIC  HOME 

shore;  it  must  be  where  no  landslide  nor  fall- 
ing rocks  from  the  cliffs  could  crush  it,  where 
the  torrents  from  the  melting  snow  of  early 
summer  could  not  sweep  it  away,  and  yet  it 
should  be  sheltered  from  the  furious  blasts  of 
winter,  and  be  so  placed  as  to  get  all  the  sun- 
light possible.  Finally,  a  little  knoll  between 
two  brooks,  about  a  hundred  feet  from  the 
shore,  was  selected.  The  soft  earth  of  this 
little  grass-and-flower-covered  eminence  gave  an 
opportunity  to  set  the  house  level  with  but  very 
little  digging,  while  the  slope  in  every  direc- 
tion insured  dryness,  and  the  slight  elevation 
gave  a  good  outlook  over  the  bay.  The  only 
objection  to  the  location  was  that  the  cliffs  to 
the  south  would  shut  off  the  sun  early  in  spring 
and  late  in  autumn,  but  this  could  not  be 
helped. 

After  every  one  had  had  a  good  sleep,  the 
boats  again  went  ashore,  carrying  pickaxes  and 
shovels,  and  in  a  day  the  excavation  for  the 
house  had  been  completed.  Then  came  the 
putting  up  of  the  frames.  These  had  been  cut 
and  fitted  while  the  Kite  was  fast  in  the  ice  in 
Melville  Bay,  on  her  way  up,  and  now  they 
had  only  to  be  nailed  together  and  erected. 

The  construction  of  the  little  house  had  been 
19 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

the  subject  of  a  great  deal  of  thought  and 
study,  the  great  object  being  to  have  it  as  light 
and  yet  as  strong  and  warm  as  possible.  The 
general  theory  of  its  construction  was  to  make 
it  a  series  of  light,  tight  shells,  enclosing  sev- 
eral air  spaces  between  the  innermost  and 
outermost  coverings.  The  frames  were  made 
of  six  boards,  10  inches  wide  by  1^  inches 
thick.  They  rested  upon  three  plank  sills,  and 
were  spaced  three  feet  apart  lengthwise  of  the 
house.  Boards  similar  to  the  bottom  board  of 
the  frames  were  placed  upon  the  plank  sills, 
half-way  between  each  two  frames,  and  these, 
with  the  bottom  boards  of  the  frames,  formed 
the  floor  joists,  spaced  18  inches  apart. 

Then  the  floor  was  laid  of  1^-inch  yellow 
pine  boards,  three  inches  wide,  tongued  and 
grooved,  and  solidly  blindnailed  to  every  floor 
joist.  Next  came  the  roof  and  sides.  First, 
heavy  two  -  ply  tarred  paper  was  laid  in 
horizontal  courses  entirely  around  the  house 
against  the  outside  of  the  studs  from  the 
ground  to  the  ridge,  each  course  overlapping 
the  one  below,  like  weather  -  boarding,  and 
nailed  to  each  stud.  Then  over  this  was  nailed 
the  outside  boarding  of  one  -  inch  boards, 

tongued  and  grooved.    When  this  boarding  was 
20 


OUR  ARCTIC  HOME 

finished,  all  the  horizontal  laps  of  the  tarred 
paper  were  tacked  to  it  (from  the  inside,  of 
course),  to  make  wind -tight  joints.  Then 
three  -  ply  paper  was  put  on  outside  of  the 
boarding,  in  vertical  strips  running  from  the 
ground  up  the  wall,  over  the  roof,  and  down 
the  other  side  to  the  ground  again.  On  the 
ends  the  strips  ran  from  the  ground  to  the 
edge  of  the  roof.  Each  of  these  strips  lapped 
the  others  about  two  inches,  and  laths  nailed 
continuously  from  ground  to  ground  over  these 
laps  made  wind-and-rain-tight  joints.  This 
completed  the  outer  shell  of  the  little  house. 
Then  came  the  lining  of  the  interior.  First, 
thick  sheets  of  pasteboard,  known  as  trunk- 
boards,  three  feet  wide  by  four  feet  long  and 
a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick,  were  nailed  against 
the  inside  of  the  studs  on  the  sides  and  over- 
head, until  the  entire  house  was  cased  in. 

Now,  if  you  have  followed  me  closely,  you 
will  see  that  the  house  consisted  of  two  shells, 
the  outer  composed  of  two  thicknesses  of  tarred 
paper  and  an  inch  of  closely  fitted  boards,  and 
the  inner  composed  of  thick  trunk-boards.  Be- 
tween these  two  shells  was  an  air  space  vary- 
ing in  thickness  from  ten  inches  at  the  sides 
to  over  three  feet  in  the  centre  of  the  triangular 
21 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

place  just  under  the  ridge.  Now,  as  air  is 
known  to  be  a  good  non-conductor,  if  the  air  in 
this  space  could  be  imprisoned  effectively,  it 
would  form  the  most  simple,  cheap,  and  ef- 
fective blanket.  So  all  the  joints  in  the  card- 
board were  carefully  pasted  over  with  wide 
strips  of  heavy  brown  paper,  and  made  per- 
fectly air-tight. 

This  formed  an  effectual  barrier  to  the  wind 
and  cold,  but  did  not  present  a  very  inviting 
appearance,  and  the  next  thing  was  to  line  our 
nest.  This  was  done  with  blankets.  All  along 
the  angles  of  the  interior,  both  horizontal  and 
vertical,  narrow  strips  of  l-|-inch  boards  were 
nailed,  and  then  on  the  inner  faces  of  these 
were  tacked  heavy  red  Indian  blankets  with 
black  borders.  This  made  the  interior  as  warm 
and  cozy  in  appearance  as  could  be  desired, 
and  at  the  same  time  added  another  air  space, 
1£  inches  thick,  to  our  defences  against  old 
Boreas.  The  house  was  now  in  shape  to  with- 
stand all  the  buffeting  of  summer  or  even  au- 
tumn weather,  but  it  was  inadequate  to  protect 
us  from  the  indescribable  fury  of  the  mid- 
winter storms  and  temperatures  of  half  a  hun- 
dred degrees  below  zero. 

To  enable  it  to  stand  these  sieges,  a  draft 

22 


OUR  ARCTIC  HOME 

was  made  upon  the  moss  patches  and  the  nu- 
merous stones  lying  about,  and  with  these  ma- 
terials, helped  out  with  some  empty  pork  and 
beef  barrels,  a  thick,  close  wall  was  built  en- 
tirely around  the  house,  its  inner  face  four  feet 
away  from  the  sides  of  the  house.  When  this 
wall  had  been  built  up  until  its  top  was  every- 
where about  four  and  a  half  feet  below  the 
roof  of  the  house,  it  was  levelled  off,  and  all 
the  wooden  boxes  of  provisions,  with  their 
covers  removed  and  the  opened  sides  facing  in- 
ward, piled  in  regular  courses,  like  blocks  of 
stone,  upon  it. 

All  provisions,  such  as  tea,  coffee,  sugar, 
flour,  cormneal,  etc.,  that  could  be  damaged  by 
moisture,  had  been  packed  in  water-tight  rec- 
tangular tins,  holding  twenty-five  pounds  each, 
and  two  of  these  tins  were  packed  in  a  sub- 
stantial wooden  case.  Thus  all  the  boxes  were 
of  practically  the  same  size,  and  they  therefore 
lent  themselves  very  gracefully  to  this  style 
of  construction.  The  boxes  raised  the  wall 
some  two  feet  higher,  and  then  a  canvas  roof 
was  stretched  from  the  top  of  the  wall  to  the 
side  of  the  house,  forming  a  covered  corridor, 
four  feet  wide,  round  the  house.  This  arrange- 
ment of  the  boxes  enabled  them  to  serve  the 
23 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

double  purpose  of  protection  and  storehouse, 
and  greatly  economized  room,  while  at  the  same 
time  it  allowed  as  free  access  to  everything  as 
if  it  was  in  an  open  cupboard. 

The  house  itself  was  now  finished,  and  there 
was  nothing  more  to  be  done  outside  until  the 
snow  should  come  and  enable  us  to  add  its 
warm,  white  blanket  to  our  covering.  There 
was  still  a  good  deal  to  be  done  in  the  fitting 
and  furnishing  of  the  interior. 

The  inside  of  the  house,  which  was  now 
twenty-one  feet  long  by  twelve  feet  wide  and 
seven  and  one-half  feet  high,  was  first  divided 
into  two  rooms,  one  large  and  one  small,  by  a 
six-inch  partition.  Then  came  the  question  of 
the  best  arrangement  of  the  stove.  This  has 
always  been  a  difficult  matter — how  to  place 
the  stove  so  as  to  make  its  heat  most  effective, 
and  in  particular  to  compel  it  to  heat  the  layer 
of  air  close  to  the  floor,  the  temperature  of 
which,  in  arctic  houses,  has  always  been  below 
the  freezing-point,  while  that  in  the  upper  part 
of  the  room  has  been  at  or  perhaps  above  90 
degrees;  and  last,  but  most  important,  how  to 
arrange  the  stove  and  pipe  so  that  there  could 
be  no  possible  chance  of  setting  the  little  house 
on  fire.  Think  of  the  horror  of  having  one's 
24 


OUR  ARCTIC   HOME 

house  and  provisions  burned,  and  being  driven 
out  into  the  deadly  cold  of  the  arctic  winter 
night  to  perish  in  the  snow !  To  meet  all  these 
requirements  the  stove  was  placed  in  the  large 
room,  at  the  middle  of  the  partition  dividing 
the  two  rooms,  and  instead  of  placing  it  on  the 
floor,  as  is  usual,  a  large,  square  hole  was  cut 
in  the  floor,  and  the  sides  of  the  hole,  from  the 
floor  down  to  the  ground  beneath,  boxed  up 
and  covered  with  zinc.  The  bottom  of  this 
hole  was  then  covered  with  gravel  from  the 
beach,  and  the  stove,  with  the  legs  removed, 
lowered  into  it.  By  this  arrangement  the  ash- 
pan  and  the  bottom  of  the  fi  repot  were  below 
the  floor  level,  and  there  was  no  trouble  with 
cold  floor.  The  partition  back  of  the  stove  was 
protected  by  heavy  tin,  and  in  front  of  this, 
between  the  tin  and  the  stove,  several  copper 
wires  were  stretched,  on  which  wet  boots,  stock- 
ings, mittens,  etc.,  were  dried. 

From  the  top  of  the  stove  the  stovepipe  was 
carried  up  to  within  a  foot  of  the  ceiling,  then 
along  overhead  to  the  end  of  the  house.  But  in- 
stead of  carrying  the  pipe  through  the  wall  of 
the  house,  where  it  might  come  in  contact  with 
wood,  and  where  there  would  always  be  the  pos- 
sible danger  of  a  fire  originating,  a  pane  of 

3  25 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

glass  was  taken  out  of  each  of  the  double  win- 
dows near  the  upper  corner  and  their  place 
supplied  by  sheets  of  tin,  through  which  holes, 
just  the  size  of  the  pipe,  had  been  cut.  Through 
these  holes  the  pipe  was  carried,  and  then  con- 
tinued several  feet  away  from  the  side  of  the 
house.  When  this  was  completed,  neither  stove 
nor  pipe  touched,  wood  anywhere  in  its  course, 
and  the  entire  distance  from  the  ashpan  to  the 
outer  end  of  the  pipe  could  be  seen  at  a  glance 
by  any  one  in  the  room. 

The  ventilation  of  the  rooms  was  effected  by 
an  eight-by-ten-inch  wooden  shaft  in  each,  ex- 
tending from  the  ceiling  up  through  the  trian- 
gular air  space  under  the  roof  to  the  ridge  of 
the  house.  Here  they  were  covered  with  a  board 
having  five  2£  -  inch  auger  -  holes  bored  in  it. 
These  holes  were  open  all  the  time,  and  through 
them  escaped  all  the  moisture  and  bad  air  of  the 
rooms.  In  low  temperatures  the  condensation 
from  the  warm  air  escaping  through  them  was 
like  thick,  white  smoke. 

Across  one  end  of  the  small  room  a  double 
bunk  was  made  from  the  remains  of  the  house 
lumber,  and  on  one  side  of  the  large  room  four 
single  bunks,  in  two  tiers,  were  put  up.  Then 
a  table  and  a  number  of  chairs  were  made,  and 

26 


OUR  ARCTIC   HOME 

with  help  of  some  boxes  of  books  the  house  was 
furnished.  By  this  time  the  snow  had  come, 
and  soon,  with  the  aid  of  two  busy  snow-shovels 
and  a  snow-knife  or  two,  the  wall  all  round 
was  heavily  banked  with  snow,  the  canvas  roof 
of  the  corridor  and  the  flat  portions  of  the  main 
roof  covered  a  foot  deep  with  the  same;  then 
with  blocks  and  slabs  of  hard  snow  a  thick  wall 
was  built  to  protect  the  gable,  and  with  more 
blocks  and  slags  a  long,  narrow,  low  snow  en- 
trance to  the  corridor  was  built,  and  the  fort- 
ress, to  resist  the  fiercest  sieges  of  King  Winter, 
was  complete. 


KYOAHPADU    THE    ANGAKOK 
The    Tale    of   an    Esquimau    Medicine-man 

|T  was  long  after  the  twilight  hours 
of  a  late  November  day  were  past 
that  my  hunter,  Ikwa,  returning 
from  a  courier  trip  across  Whale 
Sound  to  the  village  of  jNettiulume,  and  thence 
southward  along  the  iron-bound  coast  of  the 
Esquimau  metropolis  of  Akpane,  brought  with 
him  from  Omanuit  a  short,  but  powerful, 
native,  whom  he  presented  as  his  brother, 
Kyoahpadu. 

Ikwa  had  evidently  told  his  brother  of  the 
ceremonies  of  initiation  into  the  good-fellow- 
ship of  Redcliffe  House;  these  ceremonies  con- 
sisting of  being  photographed  by  flashlight, 
and  afterwards  the  presentation  to  the  victim 
of  a  file,  a  box  of  matches,  and  a  tin  can  full 
of  nails.  To  our  surprise,  Kyoahpadu  was  the 
first  native  to  evince  any  hesitation  in  regard 

28" 


KYOAHPADU  THE  ANGAKOK 

to  this  performance,  but  he  declined  to  enter 
Redcliffe  until  Dr.  Dook  went  out  and  insisted 
upon  it.  Once  in  the  house,  he  seemed  to  re- 
gard the  preparations  for  having  his  picture 
taken — that  is,  placing  the  screen  and  the  chair 
and  the  bringing  out  of  the  camera — much  as 
a  condemned  man  would  witness  the  erection 
of  the  scaffold ;  and  when  he  was  finally  seated 
in  the  chair  before  the  strange  instruments,  and 
was  told  to  fix  his  eyes  on  me  as  I  removed  the 
caps  from  the  cameras,  his  teeth  chattered  in 
spite  of  his  best  efforts  to  assume  an  air  of 
braggadocio,  The  word  "  tima/'  which  told 
him  that  the  operation  was  over,  seemed  to  re- 
lieve him  of  a  great  weight  of  fear.  Yet  the 
great  angakolc  (medicine -man),  as  we  after- 
wards knew  him  to  be,  never  lost  the  impres- 
sion that  those  strange  machines  which  had 
glared  at  him  for  an  instant  in  the  dazzling 
blaze  of  the  flashlight  had  placed  him  soul  and 
body  forever  in  my  power. 

After  this,  "  Father  Tom,"  as  I  at  once  nick- 
named him,  became  a  constant  visitor  at  Red- 
cliffe,  and  worked  himself  resistlessly  and  yet 
almost  insensibly  into  our  good  graces.  Active, 
willing,  plausible,  deprecatory,  if  one  of  the 
boys  had  anything  to  be  done,  Kyo  stood  ready 

29 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

to  help;  did  any  of  the  other  natives  fail  to 
understand  what  I  wished  him  to  do,  Kyo  was 
there  to  explain  matters  to  him.  He  insisted 
upon  presenting  to  Mrs.  Peary  an  old  clasp- 
knife,  his  greatest  earthly  possession,  and  a  real- 
ly wonderful  little  ivory  needle-case,  which  he 
paid  had  been  his  wife's.  He  also  took  upon 
himself  the  care  of  the  boys'  apartment,  jump- 
ing up  a  dozen  times  a  day  to  seize  the  broom 
and  sweep  up  any  little  litter  of  shavings  or 
fur  that  might  have  gathered,  and  he  also  in- 
structed the  other  natives  as  to  the  care  they 
should  exercise  in  keeping  dirt  out  of  the  palace 
of  the  "  Great  White  Man."  Then  his  brother 
Ikwa's  hut  was  uncomfortable  for  him ;  it  was 
too  small,  and  his  brother  had  too  big  tongue, 
which  he  allowed  to  run  beyond  the  bounds  of 
reason;  and  he,  Kyo,  had  to  sleep  on  the 
stone  floor,  where  it  was  cold;  but  the  floor  of 
the  white  man's  igloo  was  peudiaksoak  (very 
good),  and  couldn't  he  sinnipah  (sleep)  there? 
And,  sure  enough,  he  got  permission,  and  with 
it  a  pair  of  blankets,  which  he  used  to  carefully 
fold  up  every  morning  and  carry  outside,  de- 
positing them  in  one  of  the  empty  boxes  in  the 
wall. 

Father  Tom  was  extremely  fond  of  the  Tcob- 
30 


KYOAHPADU  THE   ANGAKOK 

lunah,  or  white  men.  Years  before  he  had 
visited  an  oomiaksoak  (ship)  off  Cape  York, 
and  would  I  take  him  in  my  oomiaksoak  to  the 
far  south  when  I  went  away?  Father  Tom 
had  also  in  his  hut  in  far-off  Omanuit  took- 
too-ameer  (deer-skins),  amishuah  (many),  and 
three  fine  kahlilowah  tuas  (narwhal  horns), 
all  of  which  he  would  pilatay  (give)  to  "the 
kapitansoak  (myself).  And  so  Kyo  content- 
edly slept  upon  the  floor  at  Redcliffe,  until  one 
day  there  came  from  a  little  village  to  the  north 
of  us  a  widow  with  three  children,  the  husband 
and  father  having  been  dragged  under  the  ice 
and  drowned  by  a  walrus.  The  same  day  two 
dashing  youths  in  brand-new  winter  costumes, 
and  with  a  powerful  team  of  six  dogs,  dashed 
over  the  ice-foot  in  front  of  Redcliffe  from 
their  far  -  away  home  at  Cape  York.  By  a 
strange  coincidence  one  of  these  dandies  was  a 
nephew  of  the  newly  made  widow,  and  it  was 
immediately  arranged  that  when  the  dandies 
started  home  again  the  widow  and  her  children 
should  go  with  them  to  her  parents.  But  in  the 
few  days  of  their  stay  at  Redcliffe,  Kyo  be- 
came enamored  of  the  widow,  and  when  she 
and  the  young  men  turned  their  faces  south- 
ward one  starlit  December  noon,  Kyo  an- 
31 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

nounced  his  intention  of  leaving  us,  in  order, 
he  said,  to  bring  the  deer-skins  and  the  tuas 
back  to  me,  and  that  he  should  return  after  ten 
sinnipahs  (sleeps). 

As  they  vanished  in  the  darkness,  Kyo  was 
walking  lovingly  beside  the  widow  behind  the 
sledge.  Nearly  ten  times  ten  sinnipahs  had 
passed  before  I  saw  his  oily  face  again.  Then, 
one  bright,  but  blustering,  March  day,  two 
heavily  fur  -  clad  figures  came  walking  into 
sight  down  the  shore,  and  soon  Kyo  and  the 
nephew,  Kishu,  were  once  more  within  the 
walls  of  Redcliffe.  Kyo  seemed  ill  at  ease, 
and  apparently  uncertain  as  to  the  manner  of 
his  reception,  and  both  he  and  the  nephew 
seemed  uncommunicative;  but  I  learned 
enough  to  satisfy  me  that  there  were  more  of 
them,  with  several  dogs,  but  a  few  miles  from 
Redcliffe.  After  stopping  but  a  few  hours, 
they  went  again,  and  I  immediately  gave  or- 
ders to  Gibson  and  Astrup  to  get  themselves 
in  readiness  to  start  at  once  on  a  reconnois- 
sance  to  see  what  the  matter  was. 

The  next  day  they  returned  with  the  entire 
party.  In  the  party  were  the  widow,  now  the 
wife  of  Kyo,  and  her  daughters.  Kyo  and  his 
wife  immediatelv  settled  down  near  Redcliffe, 

32 


KYOAHPADU    THE    ANGAKOK    (.MEDICINE-MAN) ; 


KYOAHPADU  THE  ANGAKOK 

and  remained  with  us  until  the  Kite  finally 
left  McCormick  Bay;  but  he  never  seemed  the 
same  again. 

I  had  learned  much  of  him  from  the  natives 
who  had  visited  Redcliffe  during  his  absence, 
and  though  some  of  them  spoke  well  of  him, 
most  of  the  reports  were  the  reverse,  and  I 
could  see  that,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  he 
was  both  hated  and  feared.  There  were  dark 
hints  of  the  murder  of  a  man,  and  also  that 
two  wives  had  been  killed  by  his  hand,  and  that 
he  was  an  angdkok,  or  medicine-man,  of  great 
power.  Whether  Kyo  knew  that  I  had  heard 
these  reports,  or  whether  he  felt  that  he  had 
lost  my  confidence  by  remaining  away  so  long, 
I  never  could  tell.  But  it  was  certain  that  he 
was  not  the  same  man,  and  at  times  I  even 
felt  slightly  suspicious  of  him,  especially  in 
regard  to  tampering  with  my  dogs,  and  even 
made  up  my  mind  on  one  occasion  that  if,  in 
disregard  of  my  explicit  command  not  to  har- 
ness up  one  of  my  finest  teams  of  dogs  for  a 
journey  to  the  south,  he  should  attempt  to  tam- 
per with  them,  I  should  shoot  him.  The  mat- 
ter never  came  to  this  crisis,  however,  and  we 
soon  found  that  Kyo  was  subject  to  fits  of  un- 
controllable anger,  closely  allied  to  insanity, 
33 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE   SAM'S  SAILORS 

and  on  one  or  two  occasions  had  severely  cut 
his  wife  while  in  these  paroxysms.  Yet  as  my 
driver  on  the  sledge  trip  around  Inglefield 
Gulf,  he  was  most  obedient  and  attentive  to 
the  wants  of  both  Mrs.  Peary  and  myself,  and 
was  the  proudest  of  the  proud  in  having  to 
manage  the  finest  team  of  powerful  dogs  that 
ever  galloped  through  that  frozen  region. 

During  the  absence  of  Astrup  and  myself  on 
the  inland  ice,  Kyo,  as  being  a  mighty  anga- 
Icok,  indulged  in  frequent  seances  or  trances, 
during  which  he  came  upon  the  inland  ice. 
lie  saw  stretching  before  him  all  the  white  ex- 
panse of  the  great  frozen  desert,  and  then,  re- 
covering from  his  trance,  he  would  tell  Mrs. 
Peary  that  far  away  to  the  north  he  had  seen  a 
single  innuit  (man)  staggering  weakly  home- 
ward, and  that  the  man  was  not  the  kapitansoak. 
Just  before  my  return,  in  one  of  his  paroxysms, 
he  had  threatened  to  kill  his  wife  and  her  near- 
ly grown  daughter,  and  these  threats  had  so 
completely  terrified  the  poor  woman  that,  seiz- 
ing the  opportunity  when  Kyo  was  out  in  his 
kyah  on  a  seal-hunt,  they  slipped  away  from 
the  village  and  disappeared. 

Kyo  searched  the  shores  in  every  direction, 

but  it  was  not  until  two  weeks  later  that  they 
34 


KYOAHPADU  THE  ANGAKOK 

reached  a  distant  settlement,  having  traversed 
mountain  glaciers  for  that  time,  and  living  en- 
tirely upon  such  little  auks  as  they  were  able 
to  catch. 

Kyo  was  absent,  searching  for  them,  when 
I  returned  from  the  inland  ice,  and  when  I 
next  saw  him  he  had  regained  his  wife  and 
daughter.  But  this  good-fortune  was,  perhaps, 
more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  fact  that  my 
return  (in  spite  of  his  predictions  to  the  con- 
trary) had  destroyed  forever  his  prestige  as  an 
angdkok.  The  trouble  which  had  resulted  in  the 
flight  of  his  wife  and  daughter  seemed  to  have 
been  entirely  smoothed  over,  but  there  were 
some  among  us  who  felt  that  this  appearance 
was  deceitful,  and  that  Kyo  was  only  biding 
his  time.  It  is  quite  possible  that  by  this  time 
he  is  again  a  widower. 

Kyo  was  one  of  the  few  natives  in  the  tribe 
who  had  seen  the  tattooed  people  of  the  West, 
and  as  a  result  of  this  he  had  seen  'perhaps 
more  of  human  bloodshed  than  any  other  mem- 
ber of  his  tribe.  As  a  boy,  accompanying  his 
father  upon  a  bear-hunt,  which  led  him  to  the 
distant  western  shore  of  Smith  Sound,  he  saw 
his  father  killed  in  the  struggle  with  a  party 
of  the  tattooed  men.  Years  after,  as  a  young 

35 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

man,  he  had  the  pleasure  of  killing  his  father's 
murderer,  and  then,  by  some  chance  which  I 
never  could  understand,  the  wife  of  this  mur- 
dered man,  with  her  young  son,  became  a  resi- 
dent of  the  Whale  Sound  region.  That  son, 
now  grown  to  be  a  stalwart  young  man,  is  the 
only  one  in  the  tribe  whom  the  great  angakolc 
fears,  and  now  that  his  superstitious  prestige 
is  gone,  it  is  quite  possible  that  he  may  have 
already  paid  the  debt  of  the  bloody  feud  at  the 
hand  of  the  young  Ootooniah. 


II 
YARNS    BELOW 


CRYING    TOMMY 

The  Story  of  an  Apprentice-boy  Who  Saved  the  Ship 

|E!NT£S,  the  master -at -arms,  other- 
wise known  as  Jiminylegs,  was  the 
best  Jimmylegs  in  the  naval  service 
of  the  United  States.  His  counte- 
nance was  usually  as  stolid  as  a  mummy's,  and 
his  voice  as  steady  as  the  Sphinx's  might  have 
been.  He  would  have  announced :  "  The  maga- 
zine is  on  fire,  sir,"  in  precisely  the  same  tone 
as:  "John  Smith  has  broken  his  liberty,  sir." 
Therefore  when  Mr.  Belton,  first  -  lieutenant 
of  the  training-ship  Spitfire,  in  his  first  inter- 
view after  coming  aboard,  detected  a  rudi- 
mentary grin  upon  Jimmyleg's  usually  impas- 
sive face,  he  stopped  short  in  the  perilous  op- 
eration of  shaving  while  the  ship  had  a  sharp 
roll  on,  and  asked: 

"  What  is  it,  master-at-arms ?    Out  with  it!" 

"  Just  this,  sir,"  replied  old  Jenks,  crossing 
39 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

his  arms  and  tugging  at  his  left  whisker  with 
his  right  hand.  "  Along  o'  that  'prentice  boy, 
Hopkins  —  the  other  boys  call  him  Crying 
Tommy,  because  he's  always  blubbering  about 
something  or  Another.  That  boy'd  be  worth 
good  money  to  a  undertaker,  he's  got  such  a 
distressful  countenance.  Well,  sir,  I  brought 
him  down,  with  a  batch  o'  other  boys  from  the 
training  -  station,  and  he  didn't  half  seem  to 
like  going  aboard.  Howsomedever,  I  never 
misdoubted  as  how  he'd  jump  the  ship.  But 
after  them  boys  was  landed  at  the  dock,  I 
looked  around,  and  there  wasn't  no  Crying 
Tommy.  I  brought  the  rest  of  'em  along,  and 
reported  on  board  ship,  and  then  I  started  out 
on  a  quiet  hunt  for  that  there  boy.  I  didn't 
have  no  luck,  though;  but  about  dark  that 
evening  there  come  over  the  for'ard  gangway 
a  great  strappin'  red-headed  girl  about  fifteen, 
holdin'  on  to  Crying  Tommy  like  grim  death, 
and  he  scared  half  out  of  his  wits.  She 
marches  him  up  to  me,  and  she  says,  '  Here's 
that  dratted  boy ' — dratted  was  the  very  word 
she  used,  sir — and  she  kep'  on,  '  He  won't  run 
away  no  more,  I  think  —  not  if  my  name  is 
Mary  Jane  Griggs.'  And  I  says  to  her,  bowin' 

and  tryin'  to  keep  from  grinnin',  for  the  girl 
40 


CRYING  TOMMY 

had  as  honest  a  face,  sir,  as  I  ever  clapped 
eyes  on :  e  Miss  Griggs,  may  I  ask  what  relation 
you  are  to  Mr.  Hopkins  here?'  And  she 
snapped  out :  l  ^ot  a  bit ;  only  after  his  mother 
died  we  took  him  in  our  house,  and  he  paid 
his  way — when  he  could.  Then  one  day  I  read 
in  the  paper  about  naval  apprentices,  and  I 
said  to  Tommy :  "  That's  the  place  for  you." 
So  he  went  and  signed  the  articles.  That  was 
six  months  ago.  And  this  afternoon,  when  I 
come  home  from  the  box-factory  where  I  works, 
there  was  this  great  lummux.'  Well !  how  her 
eyes  did  flash !  Mr.  Belton,  I'm  afraid  o'  red- 
headed women  and  girls,  sir — that  I  am — and 
Crying  Tommy,  I  saw,  was  in  mortial  fear  of 
Mary  Jane  Griggs.  And  she  says :  '  I  marched 
him  straight  back;  he  bellowed  like  a  calf- 
he's  the  greatest  crier  I  ever  see;  but  I  want 
you  to  take  him  and  make  him  behave  himself.' 
'  I  will  endeavor  to  do  so,  Miss  Griggs,'  says  I, 
and  then  she  gave  her  flipper  to  the  boy,  and 
went  off  home,  I  suppose,  and  we  sailed  that 
night." 

"  Well,  what  sort  of  a  boy  is  he  ?"  asked  the 
lieutenant. 

Jimmylegs   tugged    at   his   whiskers   harder 
than  ever. 

4  41 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

"  Well,  sir,"  he  said,  presently,  "  the  boy 
ain't  no  shirk.  He's  a  foretopman,  and  the 
captain  of  the  foretop  says  he's  the  smartest 
boy  he's  got  aloft.  But  he  keeps  on  crying,  and 
I'm  mightily  afraid  he'll  start  some  of  the 
other  boys  to  crying,  and  they'll  think  the  ship 
is  a  penitentiary.  Low  spirits  is  ketchin',  'spe- 
cially in  the  fo'c'sle,  and  I  wish  that  blessed 
brat  would  stop  his  bawling.  I'd  like  you  to 
speak  to  him,  sir;  you've  got  such  a  fine  way 
with  boys,  sir."  Which  was  true  enough. 

"  Send  him  here,"  said  the  lieutenant,  wip- 
ing his  face  after  his  shave. 

Presently  there  came  a  timid  knock  at  the 
door,  and  Crying  Tommy  appeared.  He  was 
a  sandy-haired  boy  of  sixteen,  ill-grown  for  his 
age,  of  a  most  doleful  countenance. 

"  Well,  my  lad,"  said  the  lieutenant,  cheeri- 
ly, "  I  hear  that  you  are  always  piping  your 
eye.  What's  that  for  ?" 

Crying  Tommy  shook  his  head  helplessly, 
but  said  nothing. 

"  Do  the  men  run  you  ?" 

"Yes,  sir;  but— 'tain't  that." 

"  Do  you  get  enough  to  eat  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir — never  had  such  good  grub  in  my 

life  before." 

42 


CRYING  TOMMY 

"  Then  what  in  the  name  of  sense  are  you 
always  howling  for?" 

Crying  Tommy  looked  about  him  more  help- 
lessly than  ever,  and  then  burst  out  suddenly 
and  desperately: 

"  I  don't  know,  sir,  except  that  I've  always 
had — somebody  to  look  out  for  me.  Mary  Jane 
Griggs  done  that — she's  a  corker,  sir — and  she 
made  me  go  and  be  a  'prentice — and  I  didn't 
want  to ;  she  made  me  go — that  she  did,  sir !" 

"  I'm  not  surprised  that  Mary  Jane  wanted 
to  get  rid  of  you  if  this  is  the  way  you  acted. 
Now  mind;  do  you  stop  this  boo-hooing,  and 
do  your  duty  cheerfully.  Do  you  understand 
me  ?  For  I  hear  that  you  do  your  duty.  And 
if  you  don't,  why  "•  —here  the  lieutenant  quick- 
ly assumed  his  "  quarter  -  deck  "  voice  and 
roared  out,  "  I'll  give  you  something  to  cry 
for!" 

Crying  Tommy  fled  down  the  gangway. 
Half  an  hour  afterwards  the  lieutenant  was 
on  the  bridge,  the  anchor  was  picked  up,  the 
Spitfire  was  spreading  her  white  wings  to  the 
freshening  breeze.  Mr.  Belton,  watch  in  hand, 
was  keenly  observing  the  young  bluejackets, 
and  when  he  saw  that  all  plain  sail  was  made 

within  ten  minutes,  he  put  his  watch  back  with 
43 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

a  feeling  of  satisfaction.  He  had  sailor-boys 
to  count  on,  not  farmers  and  haymakers,  aloft. 
Especially  had  he  noticed  one  boy,  who,  laying 
out  with  catlike  swiftness  on  the  very  end  of 
the  topsail-yard,  did  his  work  with  a  quickness 
and  steadiness  that  many  an  old  man-o'-war's 
man  might  have  envied.  When  this  smart 
youngster  landed  on  deck  Mr.  Belton  was  sur- 
prised to  see  that  it  was  Crying  Tommy,  look- 
ing, as  usual  when  he  was  not  crying,  as  though 
he  were  just  ready  to  begin. 

But  Mr.  Belton  had  something  else  to  study 
besides  the  boys,  and  this  was  the  ship.  The 
Spitfire  was  a  fine,  old-fashioned,  tall-masted, 
big-sparred  frigate,  that  could  leg  it  consider- 
ably faster  under  her  great  sails  than  under  her 
small  engines.  She  had  the  spacious  quarters 
for  officers  and  the  roomy,  airy  spaces  between 
decks,  for  the  men,  of  the  ships  of  her  class,  and 
was  altogether  a  much  more  comfortable  boat 
for  cruising  than  the  modern  floating  forts  that 
could  have  blown  her  out  of  the  water  with  a 
single  round.  Stanch  and  weatherly,  Mr.  Bel- 
ton  had  but  one  fault  to  find  with  her,  and  that 
was  the  situation  of  her  powder-magazine.  It 
was  exactly  where  it  ought  not  to  have  been; 

for  the  breech  of  one  of  her  guns  was  directly 
44 


CRYING  TOMMY 

over  the  chute  by  which  the  ammunition  was 
hauled  up.  Whenever  that  gun  was  fired,  Mr. 
Belton  would  go  up  to  the  gun  captain  and 
give  him  a  look  of  warning,  and  the  man  would 
respond  to  this  silent  caution  by  touching  his 
cap.  Nevertheless,  the  lieutenant  said  to  him- 
self sometimes :  "  If  we  finish  this  cruise  with- 
out some  trouble  with  the  magazine,  the  Spit- 
fire will  deserve  her  name  of  a  lucky  ship." 

They  had  sailed  in  April,  and  six  very  satis- 
factory weeks  had  been  passed  at  sea.  Home- 
sickness and  seasickness  had  disappeared  after 
the  first  week,  and  the  whole  ship's  company, 
from  the  captain  down — who  rejoiced  in  such 
a  first-lieutenant  as  Mr.  Belton  —  was  happy 
and  satisfied,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
Crying  Tommy.  The  master  -  at  -  arms  never 
had  so  little  disagreeable  work  to  do,  and  so 
he  told  Mr.  Belton  one  Sunday  morning  after 
inspection. 

"  By-the-way,"  asked  the  lieutenant,  "  I  see 
that  Hopkins  boy  is  doing  well.  He  has  never 
had  a  report  against  him.  Has  he  stopped  that 
habit  of  howling  for  nothing  ?" 

"  Well,  sir,"  replied  old  Jimmylegs,  "  he 
has,  partly.  The  other  boys  laughed  at  him, 

and  that  done  him  good.     They've  caught  on  to 
45 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

Mary  Jane,  and  they  asks  him  if  he  has  to  re- 
port to  Mary  Jane  twicet  a  day  when  he  is 
ashore,  and  such  like  pullin'  of  his  legs  as  boys 
delights  in.  The  other  day,  sir,  he  got  to  cryin' 
about  something  or  'nother,  and  they  run  him 
too  hard.  I  saw  'em  and  heard  'em,  but  they 
didn't  know  it.  Fust  thing  Crying  Tommy 
lights  out  from  the  shoulder,  and  laid  the  big- 
gest of  'em  sprawlin',  and  they  shoved  off  pret- 
ty quick,  sir.  I  didn't  think  as  'twas  my  duty 
to  report  him  for  fightin',  and  I  'ain't  never  had 
occasion  to  report  him  for  nothin'  else.  A  bet- 
ter boy  nor  a  smarter  at  his  duty  I  'ain't  never 
seen,  sir." 

One  lovely  May  morning,  a  few  days  after 
this,  found  the  Spitfire  off  the  glorious  bay  of 
Naples.  The  sun  shone  from  a  sapphire  sky 
upon  a  sapphire  sea,  while  in  the  distance  rose 
the  darker  blue  cone  of  Vesuvius,  crowned  with 
fire  and  flame.  Across  the  rippling  water  swept 
innumerable  sailboats,  while  tall-masted  mer- 
chantmen and  steamships,  with  inky  smoke 
pouring  out  of  their  black  funnels,  ploughed 
their  way  in  and  out  the  harbor.  Near  a  huge 
government  mole  half  a  dozen  majestic  war- 
ships, strung  out  in  a  semicircle,  rode  at  an- 
chor. A  great  British  battle-ship,  all  black  and 
46 


CRYING  TOMMY 

yellow,  towered  over  the  smart  little  cruiser 
near  by,  which  also  flew  a  British  ensign  from 
her  peak.  Not  far  away  lay  a  French  ship, 
with  remarkably  handsome  masts  and  spars 
and  a  wicked-looking  ram  as  sharp  as  a  knife, 
that  could  cut  an  armored  ship  in  half  like  a 
cheese,  if  ever  she  got  the  chance.  Farther  off 
still  lay  three  Italian  men-of-war,  from  one  of 
which  flew  the  blue  flag  of  an  admiral.  The 
captain  of  the  Spitfire  was  with  Mr.  Belton 
on  the  bridge  as  they  came  in,  with  a  fair  wind, 
and  a  mountain  of  canvas  piled  on  the  ship. 
The  captain,  knowing  that  no  man  could  hand- 
die  a  sailing-ship  more  beautifully  than  his 
first  -  lieutenant,  was  quite  willing  that  he 
should  show  his  expertness  before  the  thousands 
of  sailors  watching  the  Spitfire.  On  she  rush- 
ed, the  water  billowing  against  her  sides  as 
her  keen  bows  cut  her  way  through  the  blue 
waves.  Mr.  Belton,  with  a  seaman's  eye,  se- 
lected an  admirable  anchorage,  and  just  as  the 
onlookers  were  wondering  where  the  Spitfire 
meant  to  bring  up,  she  made  a  beautiful  flying 
move.  Her  yards  were  squared  like  magic,  and 
her  sails  furled  with  almost  incredible  swift- 
ness. With  a  gleam  like  lightning  and  a  rattle 
like  thunder  her  cable  rushed  out  of  the  hawse- 
47 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE   SAM'S  SAILORS 

hole,  and  scarcely  had  the  splash  of  her  anchor 
resounded  when  the  Italian  colors  were  broken 
at  the  masthead  and  the  first  gun  of  the  salute 
boomed  over  the  bright  water. 

"  Well  done,  Spitfire  /"  cried  the  captain, 
and  well  done,  indeed,  it  was. 

Twenty  guns  roared  out,  with  scarcely  a  sec- 
ond's difference  in  their  steady  boom ! — boom ! 
— boom! — and  then  there  was  a  sudden  break 
before  the  twenty-first  gun  was  fired.  Mr.  Bel- 
ton  turned,  and  his  eye  instinctively  flashed 
upon  the  starboard  gun  over  the  magazine. 
Yes,  there  it  was  —  that  accident  for  which 
he  had  been  looking  ever  since  he  set  foot 
on  the  ship.  The  shreds  of  a  blazing  cart- 
ridge -  bag  dropped  under  the  breech,  and  a 
faint  puff  of  wind  blew  them  over  the  edge 
of  the  open  chute.  Down  they  went  into  the 
powder-magazine. 

The  lieutenant  hardly  knew  how  he  reached 
the  deck  and  sped  along  it,  but  in  a  moment  he 
had  leaped  down  the  ladder  towards  the  open 
door  of  the  magazine,  where  an  ominous  crack- 
ling was  heard.  And  instead  of  half  a  dozen 
men  at  work  flooding  the  magazine,  there  were 
half  a  dozen  pale,  wild-eyed,  and  panic-stricken 
creatures,  as  the  bravest  will  be  sometimes, 

48 


CRYING  TOMMY 

crowding  out  into  the  passage,  and  quite  dazed 
with  fear. 

"  Return  to  your  duty !"  shouted  Mr.  Belton. 
He  felt  for  his  pistol,  and  not  finding  it,  seized 
a  bucket  of  water  that  was  handy  and  dashed 
it  in  the  men's  faces.  The  shock  brought  them 
to  their  senses;  they  stopped  in  their  mad 
flight  and  turned  towards  the  magazine.  Mr. 
Belton  rushed  like  a  catapult  among  them, 
wedged  together  in  the  narrow  passage,  and 
right  behind  was  old  Jimmylegs  with  a  bucket 
of  water.  They  could  see  a  boyish  figure  on 
hands  and  knees  in  the  magazine  with  a  wet 
swab,  crawling  about  and  putting  out  the 
sparks  that  flashed  from  all  over  the  floor.  The 
next  moment  the  whole  floor  was  awash;  the 
danger  was  over,  and  Mr.  Belton  and  the 
master-at-arms  had  time  to  observe  that  the  boy 
who  had  stood  to  his  post  when  men  fled  was 
Crying  Tommy,  and  he  was  crying  vigorously. 
When  he  saw  that  the  fire  was  out,  he  sat  down 
on  the  wet  floor  and  began  to  howl  louder  than 
ever.  Old  Jimmylegs  seized  him  by  the  shoul- 
der, and  giving  him  a  shake  that  made  his  teeth 
rattle  in  his  head,  bawled : 

"  Choke  a  luff,  and  tell  the  orficer  about  the 
fire!" 

49 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

Crying  Tommy  was  so  scared  at  this  that  he 
actually  stopped  weeping,  and  wiped  his  eyes 
on  the  sleeve  of  his  jacket. 

"  I  see  the  loose  powder  on  the  floor  burning, 
and  the  men  saw  it,  and  then  one  of  'em  called 
out,  '  Oh,  Lord !  we're  dead  men !'  and  they  all 
ran  away."  Here  Crying  Tommy  piped  up  again. 

"  And  you  didn't  run  away.  Go  on,"  said 
Mr.  Belton. 

"  So  I  reached  out  for  the  swab  and  the 
water-bucket,  and  I  swabbed  the  floor  the  best 
I  could." 

"  A-cryin'  all  the  time,  no  doubt,"  put  in  old 
Jimrnylegs. 

"  I  couldn't  help  it,  sir,"  whimpered  Crying 
Tommy. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Belton,  "  you  had  some- 
thing to  cry  for  this  time.  Now  get  out  of 
here.  You've  saved  the  ship." 

Not  long  after  this,  one  Sunday  morning, 
the  boatswain  was. directed  to  pipe  all  hands  up 
and  aft.  And  when  all  the  officers  and  men 
were  assembled,  the  captain  read  out  the  ap- 
pointment of  Thomas  Hopkins,  apprentice  boy, 
as  acting  gunner's  mate  for  his  gallantry  in 
putting  out  the  fire  in  the  magazine  on  that 

May  morning.    Then  Mr.  Belton  handed  Tom- 
50 


CRYING  TOMMY 

my  a  handsome  watch  as  a  gift  from  the  officers, 
at  which  the  men  cheered,  and  Tommy  bowed 
and  bowed  again,  and  presently  put  up  his  ever- 
ready  jacket  sleeve  to  his  eye;  and  the  officers 
roared  with  laughter  and  the  men  grinned,  and 
Tommy  went  below,  weeping  but  very  happy. 

One  day,  some  years  after  this,  Mr.  Belton 
and  old  Jimmylegs,  who  were  then  on  different 
ships,  met  at  the  navy-yard  gate,  and,  being 
old  shipmates,  they  exchanged  very  warm  greet- 
ings. Presently  there  passed  them  a  smart- 
looking  young  gunner,  and  holding  his  arm 
was  a  tall,  fine-looking  young  woman  in  a  red 
gown,  with  a  red  feather  in  her  hat,  red  cheeks, 
and  a  brilliant  red  head,  and  she  looked  very 
proud  and  smiling.  Her  companion,  on  the 
contrary,  seemed  overcome  with  bashfulness  on 
seeing  the  lieutenant  and  the  old  master-at-arms, 
and  hurriedly  saluting,  made  off  in  the  opposite 
direction,  looking  uncommonly  sheepish. 

"  That,  sir,"  said  Jimmylegs,  with  a  sly 
grin,  "  is  Gunner  Hopkins,  and  that  is  Mrs. 
Hopkins.  They're  just  married.  He  used  to 
be  called  Crying  Tommy,  and  she  was  Mary 
Jane  Griggs,  sir." 

"  I  remember,"  answered  the  lieutenant, 
smiling. 

51 


THE    FLAG    OF   THE    FIRST    CUTTER 
At  the  Battle  of  Mobile  Bay 

|URN  out,  old  man,  it's  { general 
quarters,'  and  I  think  we're  go- 
ing in."  Harry  was  out  of  his 
bunk  in  one  second,  and  clasping 
his  sword-belt  in  the  next.  At  Mobile  Bay,  in 
1864,  they  slept  ready  for  duty,  except  side- 
arms,  and  in  a  twinkling  all  hands  were  on 
deck  and  the  starboard  battery  manned. 

It  was  four  o'clock  of  a  warm  August  morn- 
ing in  the  gun-room  of  the  United  States  gun- 
boat Metacomet.  The  light  of  dawn  was 
already  broad  in  the  east,  and  the  rest  of  the 
fleet  lay  heaving  gently  on  the  swell  that  came 
rolling  in  from  the  sea. 

"  The  l  Flag '  has  signalled  to  come  along- 
side," was  whispered  from  man  to  man,  and 
the  watch  on  deck  was  already  getting  the  an- 
chor catted. 

52 


THE   FLAG  OF  THE   FIRST   CUTTER 

Everybody  knew  what  that  meant;  some  of 
them  had  been  alongside  the  flag-ship  before, 
passing  the  rebel  batteries  at  Xew  Orleans, 
Port  Hudson,  and  Vicksburg.  All  around  them 
on  the  other  ships  there  was  an  air  of  sup- 
pressed excitement  and  movement.  Signals 
were  run  up  here  and  there  to  yard-arm  or  gaff. 
Orders  were  given  to  serve  coffee  and  such  early 
breakfasts  as  could  easily  be  prepared,  and 
then,  one  by  one,  the  smaller  vessels  began  to 
steam  quietly  alongside  their  larger  consorts. 
The  little  black  monitors  drew  out  from  the 
lee  of  Sand  Island,  where  they  had  been  an- 
chored in  a  bunch  for  protection  against  possi- 
ble hurricanes. 

It  was  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  that  stretched  out 
to  the  southern  horizon,  and  the  low  shore  to 
the  north,  scarcely  visible  at  this  early  hour, 
was  the  Alabama  coast.  It  was  to  Mobile,  in 
1701,  on  his  third  visit  to  the  Gulf,  that 
Pierre  Le  Moyne  Iberville  transferred  the 
French  colony  which  he  had  founded  at  Fort 
Biloxi  in  1698.  For  these  low  wooded  islands 
France,  Spain,  and  England  had  fought,  off 
and  on,  for  a  hundred  years  and  more;  and 
almost  before  the  young  American  republic  was 

out  of  its  cradle  it  had  to  fight  Spain  and  Eng- 
53 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

land  in  these  very  waters  before  it  could  gain 
a  clear  title  to  the  land.  But  now  there  was 
a  still  younger  flag  afloat  over  the  grim  bastions 
of  Fort  Morgan — a  flag  that  for  more  than 
three  years  had  replaced  the  Stars  and  Stripes, 
and  had  been  most  gallantly  upheld,  for  its 
defenders  were  Americans. 

But  Harry  and  the  rest  of  the  young  dare- 
devils on  the  gun-boat  thought  not  of  any  of 
these  things  as  the  light  grew  brighter  and 
the  two  ships  were  lashed  side  by  side.  They 
only  knew  that  there  was  lively  work  ahead. 
Before  them  lay  a  channel  thickly  set  with  tor- 
pedoes, forts  with  a  hundred  big  guns  covering 
the  approaches,  and  in  the  bay  beyond  a  hostile 
squadron,  and  a  huge  iron-clad  ram,  whose  com- 
mander had  boasted  that  he  could  sink  the 
whole  Yankee  fleet.  The  young  fellows  were 
very  jolly  over  it  all  as  they  hurriedly  swal- 
lowed their  breakfasts  on  the  gun-deck;  but  a 
little  later,  no  doubt,  many  a  heart  sank  a  trifle 
under  the  blue  tunics  when  the  forts  opened 
fire.  They  hardly  realized  exactly  what  was 
before  them,  that  something  like  three  hundred 
of  their  mates  on  the  different  ships  would  be 
either  killed  or  wounded  before  ten  o'clock  in 

the  morning;   but  even   if  they  had  realized 
54 


THE   FLAG  OF   THE   FIRST  CUTTER 

it  all,  they  would  have  gone  on  and  done  their 
duty  just  as  pluckily  as  they  did. 

The  Brooklyn  led  the  column,  and  drew  the 
fire  of  the  fort  at  a  few  minutes  after  seven 
o'clock.  Captain  Alden  waited  full  three  min- 
utes before  replying  to  the  compliment,  then 
his  great  rifled  cannon  thundered  an  answer, 
and  after  that  for  several  hours  there  was  no 
interruption  to  the  strain  of  disciplined  excite- 
ment. But  it  is  not  the  story  of  that  famous 
fight  that  I  am  going  to  tell,  only  a  little  inci- 
dent that  might  readily  be  overlooked  by  the 
historian. 

Harry  C.  Nields,  Ensign,  U.  S.  N".,  was  the 
full  style  and  title  of  the  young  lad  whom  we 
have  introduced  as  "  Harry."  He  was  on  duty 
at  one  of  the  waist  guns,  and  his  ship,  the  Meta- 
comet,  and  her  big  consort,  the  Hartford,  Far- 
ragut's  famous  flag-ship,  now  used  at  Annapolis, 
were  right  in  the  thick  of  the  fight,  not  five  hun- 
dred yards  from  the  fort,  when  the  monitor 
Tecumseh,  close  at  hand,  was  blown  half  out  of 
water  by  a  torpedo,  and  went  down,  carrying 
with  her  most  of  her  crew.  Admiral  Farragut, 
lashed  in  the  main  rigging  of  the  Hartford, 
saw  some  men  swimming  about  where  the  ill- 
fated  craft  went  down.  So  did  Captain  Jouett, 
55 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

on  the  Metacomet,  and  lie  instantly  gave  orders 
to  send  a  boat. 

"  Away  there,  first  cutter !  Nields,  go  and 
pick  those  fellows  up." 

The  bluejackets  swarmed  over  the  side — 
the  ships  were  moving  so  slowly  that  it  could 
be  done — and  dropped  one  after  another  into 
their  places  in  the  boat.  Harry  was  among 
the  first,  and  jumped  to  his  station  in  the  stern- 
sheets.  "Shove  off!  Oars!  Stern,  all!" 
And  the  cutter  dropped  astern,  out  from  under 
the  sheltering  wooden  walls,  that  did  not  shel- 
ter so  very  much,  after  all,  into  the  storm  of 
shot  that  whipped  up  the  smooth  sea  in  angry 
little  spirts,  and  tore  through  the  air  overhead 
in  both  directions  between  the  ships  and  the 
fortress. 

The  young  boy  ordered  his  men  to  give  way, 
and  headed  his  boat,  as  nearly  as  he  could 
guess,  through  the  dense  powder  smoke  towards 
the  spot  where  the  monitor  went  dowii.  Then 
he  glanced  astern.  No,  the  colors  were  not 
stepped!  Captain  Jouett  was  watching  him, 
although  he  did  not  know  it.  The  flag  lay  on 
the  stern-sheets  of  the  boat  in  its  water-proof 
case.  Harry  pulled  the  case  off  as  coolly  as  if 
it  had  been  his  umbrella  cover  and  he  had  been 
56 


THE   FLAG  OF  THE  FIRST  CUTTER 

walking  in  the  quiet  New  England  town  where 
he  was  born.  He  shook  out  the  folds  of  the  flag, 
stepping  it  properly  as  he  had  been  accustomed 
to  do,  and  held  the  boat  to  her  course  through 
the  battle  smoke  and  shrieking  missiles  that  flew 
back  and  forth  over  his  head. 

But  the  rest  of  the  fleet  knew  nothing  of  all 
this.  The  men  below  on  the  gun-deck  could 
actually  hear  the  torpedoes  bumping  against  the 
ship's  side  as  she  dragged  over  them.  Natur- 
ally, under  the  circumstances,  torpedoes  held  a 
somewhat  prominent  place  in  their  thoughts 
at  that  time.  The  captain  of  the  Hartford's 
bow  gun  caught  sight  of  something  through  the 
drift.  "  Torpedoes !"  thought  he,  and  forth- 
with he  trained  his  hundred-pound  pivot  rifle 
upon  it.  His  practised  eye  glanced  along  the 
sights,  and  just  as  the  great  gun  came  to  bear 
and  the  lanyard  tightened  in  his  grip,  some  one 
caught  his  sleeve  and  exclaimed,  "  For  God's 
sake,  Jack,  don't  fire ;  that's  one  of  our  boats !" 
And  sure  enough,  the  coolness  of  young  Nields 
in  unfurling  the  flag  had  probably  saved  his 
own  life  and  that  of  his  gallant  crew. 

On  they  went,  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
fort  and  its  tongues  of  flames,  till  they  were 
among  the  survivors  of  the  Tecumseh's  crew. 

5  57 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

Ten  men  were  all  that  remained  afloat,  though 
as  many  more  saved  themselves  by  swimming 
ashore.  With  these  half  -  drowned  fellows 
aboard,  the  cutter  pulled  rather  heavily,  and  as 
the  flag-ship  was  now  well  on  past  the  fort,  it 
was  hopeless  to  try  to  overtake  her;  so  Harry 
headed  his  boat  for  the  Winnebago,  put  the 
Tecumseh  men  aboard  of  her,  and  reported  for 
duty  on  board  the  Oneida,  which,  with  the  Ga- 
lena lashed  alongside,  brought  up  the  rear  of 
the  column. 

More  than  once  during  that  eventful  morn- 
ing he  wished  himself  back  on  his  own  ship, 
which  had  the  excitement  of  a  successful  run- 
ning fight  up  the  bay  with  the  light  -  weight 
Confederate  gun  -  boats.  The  Oneida,  on  the 
contrary,  was  severely  punished  by  the  fire  of 
the  forts,  and  was  towed  out  of  range  by  her 
consort  with  her  starboard  boiler  crushed  by 
a  shell,  her  steering-gear  shot  away,  and  a  third 
of  her  crew  killed  or  wounded. 

Thus  crippled,  she  could  only  look  on  while 
the  iron-clad  Tennessee  gallantly  endeavored 
to  make  good  Commodore  Buchanan's  boast 
that  she  could  sink  the  whole  Yankee  fleet.  At 
last,  with  her  commander  sorely  wounded,  her 

smokestack  shot  away,  her  rudder-chains  gone, 
58 


THE    FLAG  OF  THE  FIRST  CUTTER 

several  of  her  guns  disabled,  she  surrendered, 
and  quiet  once  more  reigned  on  Mobile  Bay, 
although  Fort  Morgan  was  still  pegging  away 
with  her  landward  batteries  to  repel  the  shore 
attack.  As  soon  as  Harry  saw  the  Metacomet 
come  to  anchor  he  walked  aft.  Captain  Mul- 
lany,  of  the  Oneida,  had  been  carried  below 
early  in  the  action  with  his  left  arm  shot  off, 
and  Lieutenant  Huntington,  second  in  com- 
mand, had  the  deck. 

Harry  looked  very  much  as  does  the  captain 
of  a  football  team  nowadays  after  a  champion- 
ship game.  Some  sort  of  a  flying  missile  had 
grazed  his  head,  and  he  had  tied  it  up  with  his 
handkerchief  till  such  time  as  the  surgeons 
should  have  done  with  the  serious  cases. 

Harry  touched  what  was  left  of  his  cap. 
"  May  I  go  home,  sir  ?" 

The  lieutenant  was  absently  watching  two 
"  jackies  "  who  were  setting  up  some  damaged 
rigging.  At  this  he  turned  and  looked  Harry 
over. 

"  Who  are  you,  sir  ?"  he  asked,  for  in  the 
excitement  of  the  action  he  had  forgotten  the 
incident  of  the  boat. 

"  Ensign  fields,  sir,  of  the  Metacomet" 

"  Oh,  to  be  sure ;  I  beg  your  pardon,  Mr. 

59 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

Nields.  Yes,  you  may  go.  How  many  of  the 
Tecumselis  men  did  you  pick  up  ?" 

"  Ten,  sir." 

"  It  was  very  well  done,  sir !  Very  pluckily 
done!  You  may  give  my  compliments  to  Cap- 
tain Jouett,  and  I  take  the  liberty  of  adding 
poor  Captain  Mullany's,  and  tell  him  I  said  so." 
'  "  Yes,  sir." 

"  Any  of  your  men  hurt  ?" 

"  Nothing  to  speak  of,  sir." 

"  Very  good,  sir ;  you  may  go." 

So  the  first  cutter  was  called  away  and  went 
back  to  the  Meiacomet,  where  they  were  wel- 
comed and  complimented,  and,  what  was  more 
important,  got  a  good  square  meal,  and  Harry 
had  the  pleasure  and  honor  of  having  his  name 
mentioned  in  general  orders  for  especial  brav- 
ery and  coolness.  He  remained  in  the  navy, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1880  had  at- 
tained the  rank  of  lieutenant  commander. 


THE    RESCUE    OF    McMASTERS 

How  a  Medal  of  Honor  was    Won   off  Hatter  as 

I  HEN  the  New  York  swung  out  of 
her  berth  at  the  navy  -  yard  and 
steamed  swiftly  down  the  bay  to 
overtake  the  North  Atlantic  Squad- 
ron, which  had  already  passed  the  Hook  on  its 
way  to  the  midwinter  mano3uvres  in  the  Gulf, 
Captain  Harmer  cast  his  eye  to  the  sky,  and 
said  to  his  executive  officer: 

"  Mr.  Davis,  we  are  going  to  run  into  a  big 
gale,  probably  before  we  reach  Hatteras.  Make 
sure  that  everything  is  extra  snug  about  the 
ship.  If  we  have  a  tornado  I  want  to  go 
through  imscathed,  and,  if  possible,  without 
the  loss  of  a  piece  of  crockery.  We'll  show 
those  who  have  said  that  this  ship  is  top-heavy 
and  dangerous  in  her  rolling  and  pitching  what 
she  can  do.  I'm  glad  we  are  going  to  have  a 
gale;  the  rougher  the  better,  say  I." 

61 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

Executive  officer  Davis  agreed  with  his  su- 
perior officer  (it  was  his  business  to  do  so),  and 
said  he  would  welcome  an  opportunity  to  show 
the  superior  qualities  of  the  ship.  The  cap- 
tain noticed,  as  he  ran  his  eye  along  the  decks, 
that  some  of  the  officers'  stores,  which  had  been 
rushed  on  board  just  before  sailing,  had  not 
been  stowed  away.  Although  these  stores  are 
the  private  property  of  the  officers,  and  out  of 
the  strict  notice  or  jurisdiction  of  the  captain, 
Captain  Harmer  said: 

"  T  think  I  would  have  those  stores  put  away 
under  the  care  of  one  of  the  ensigns  if  I  were 
you,  Mr.  Davis.  The  stewards  may  be  a  little 
careless  in  the  rush  to  straighten  out  things, 
and  I  don't  want  anything  to  get  loose  during 
the  trip.  Let  us  make  a  record,  and  send  a 
clean  bill  in  the  report  to  the  admiral  on  the 
behavior  of  the  ship  in  a  storm." 

Again  Mr.  Davis  assented.  It  was  for  that 
reason  that  Ensign  Bernardi  saw  that  the  stores 
were  sent  down  the  hatchway  and  made  secure 
in  the  little  compartment  where  the  food-sup- 
plies of  the  officers  were  kept.  Two  hours 
afterwards,  when  the  New  York  was  abreast  of 
the  Hook  and  had  taken  in  her  signals,  she 
crowded  on  steam  to  overtake  the  rest  of  the 
62 


THE   RESCUE  OF   MCMASTERS 

fleet,  which  was  disappearing  in  the  horizon, 
and  the  executive  officer  reported  to  the  cap- 
tain that  the  ship  was  snug  and  tight. 

"  Very  good,"  said  Captain  Harmer.  "  Now 
let  the  storm  come  on." 

And  the  storm  did  come — one  of  those  rag- 
ing tempests  that  are  born  in  the  Gulf  was 
sweeping  up  the  coast.  Life-lines  were  stretch- 
ed on  all  the  ships  of  the  squadron.  Slow  speed 
had  been  signalled  by  the  admiral.  As  far 
as  possible  every  ship  was  ordered  to  keep  a 
widened  but  regular  interval  from  the  other 
ships.  Keenly  the  officers  of  the  New  York 
watched  their  own  vessel  and  the  vessels  near 
them.  All  through  the  night  the  vessels 
plunged  and  pitched,  and  when  day  came  the 
New  York  was  exactly  where  she  should  have 
been.  The  Maine  seemed  to  be  in  some  diffi- 
culty, and  the  Bcnnington  was  tossing  like  a 
tugboat.  It  was  hard  at  times  to  keep  the  in- 
terval between  ships,  because  it  was  only  when 
the  New  York  was  on  the  crest  of  a  wave  that 
the  others  could  be  seen  at  all.  Even  then  some 
of  the  other  ships  were  out  of  sight,  because 
they  were  wallowing  in  the  water  valleys  of 
the  terrific  sea. 

Kight  came  on  again,  and  the  ships  were  ap- 
63 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE   SAM'S  SAILORS 

preaching  Hatteras.  Search-lights  were  flash- 
ing. The  admiral  had  ordered  that  an  inter- 
val of  two  miles  be  kept  between  the  ships  for 
safety's  sake.  Every  man  in  the  fleet  showed 
that  he  was  under  a  nervous  strain.  This 
storm  would  show  whether  modern  war  -  ships 
of  the  United  States  navy  could  not  only  ride 
out  the  fiercest  kind  of  a  gale,  but  could  steam 
ahead  together  in  orderly  fashion.  The  cap- 
tain, executive  officer,  and  the  navigator  stood 
on  the  bridge  of  the  New  York. 

"  I  guess  the  Maine  is  in  distress,"  said  Cap- 
tain Harmer.  "  She  seems  to  have  stopped  off 
there  on  our  port  bow,  and  is  trying  to  signal 
something  to  the  flag-ship.  Can  you  read  what 
she  says  ?  Ask  the  signal  -  officer  what  she 
says."  The  Maine  apparently  had  stopped, 
and  was  within  signal  distance. 

"  The  Maine  reports  that  the  weather  is  too 
heavy  for  her  to  proceed,  and  has  asked  the 
admiral  for  permission  to  lie  to  until  the  storm 
lets  up  a  bit,"  was  the  reply ;  "  and  the  admiral 
has  given  his  permission." 

"  Well,  the  New  York  won't  make  such  a 
request  unless  she  is  in  danger  of  foundering," 
said  the  captain. 

Just  at  that  moment  a  great  green  wave  rose 

64 


THE   RESCUE   OF   MCMASTERS 

up  on  the  starboard  bow.  The  New  York 
plunged  down  into  the  gulf  at  its  feet,  and, 
swaying,  began  its  upward  climb  to  the  top. 
The  mass  of  water  towered  far  above  the  bow 
in  the  black  night,  and  a  cry  of  warning  swept 
along  the  ship.  Long  before  the  New  York 
had  reached  the  top  the  wave  leaped  aboard, 
and  with  a  thundering  crash  broke  on  the  deck 
and  swept  past  the  gun-sponsons,  drenching 
every  man  not  on  the  bridge.  Another  wave 
followed  quickly  and  leaped  aboard  on  the  star- 
board quarter,  and  the  New  York  quivered  and 
shook  in  every  beam  and  frame. 

"  Keep  right  ahead,"  said  Captain  Harmer 
to  the  navigator,  whose  looks  plainly  indicated 
that  he  wanted  to  slow  down  the  ship.  As  the 
captain  turned  a  messenger  dashed  up  the 
ladder  to  the  bridge.  The  executive  officer 
listened,  and  then,  in  an  angry  voice,  said: 

"  Tell  Mr.  Bernardi  to  straighten  them  out, 
and  that  the  captain  holds  him  responsible  for 
the  matter." 

Mr.  Davis  had  scarcely  spoken  when  the 
cry  "  Man  overboard !"  went  ringing  across  the 
deck.  The  alarm  was  rung,  and  men  and  offi- 
cers dashed  to  the  decks.  Another  messenger 

rushed  up  to  say  that  the  water  which  had 
65 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

crashed  through  the  after-deck  skylight  Jiad  so 
damaged  the  stores  of  the  officers  that  it  was 
necessary  to  bring  them  into  the  "  wardroom 
country." 

"  Never  mind  about  the  stores.  What  do  we 
care  about  that  ?"  shouted  the  captain,  who 
showed  evidence  of  great  irritation.  The  navi- 
gator had  already  ordered  the  engines  stopped. 
The  executive  officer  had  ordered  a  boat  cleared 
away.  A  Coston-light  had  been  tossed  over- 
board, and  numerous  life-preservers  had  fol- 
lowed it. 

"  Who  is  gone  ?"  shouted  the  captain. 

"  M  cMasters,  a  seaman,"  was  the  answer. 

"  Let  Mr.  Bernardi  take  command  of  the 
boat,"  said  the  captain. 

"  He's  down  looking  after  the  stores,  sir," 
said  the  executive  officer. 

"  I'll  go,  sir,"  said  Ensign  Wilkins,  and  soon 
the  life-boat  was  struggling  in  the  wild  waves, 
and  the  New  York  had  come  about.  McMas- 
ters  had  been  thrown  against  a  sponson,  and  in 
a  partly  unconscious  condition  had  been  swept 
overboard,  just  as  the  skylight  on  the  after-deck 
had  broken  and  the  incoming  water  had  drench- 
ed the  officers'  stores.  While  the  boat  was  be- 
ing lowered,  the  stewards  had  brought  the 
66 


THE   RESCUE   OF   McMASTERS 

stores  into  the  wardroom.  Captain  Harmer 
was  angry.  He  had  lost  his  alignment  in  the 
fleet ;  the  New  York  had  had  to  stop ;  he  would 
have  to  report  that  the  stores  had  not  been 
stowed  away  securely. 

"  Save  the  man  at  all  hazards,"  he  said,  as 
Wilkins  and  the  volunteer  crew  left  the  ship. 

It  was  a  terrific  struggle.  Search-lights  were 
used  to  try  to  guide  the  small  boat.  It  disap- 
peared behind  wave  after  wave.  It  seemed  as 
if  the  New  York  would  never  come  around  and 
get  near  the  burning  light  or  its  brave  men. 
Captain  Harmer  was  agitated.  He  left  the 
bridge,  and  when  he  was  seen  to  go  towards  the 
ward-room  for  a  personal  inspection  of  the  sit- 
uation there  officers  and  men  knew  that  his 
black  looks  meant  trouble  for  some  one.  He 
walked  in,  and  found  stewards  and  officers  try- 
ing to  lash  together  furniture,  flour  -  barrels, 
crates  of  fruit,  and  other  articles,  which  were 
being  tossed  about  in  hopeless  confusion  in  that 
room  which  is  most  orderly.  Some  of  the  offi- 
cers who  had  been  relieved  of  watch  were  stand- 
ing in  their  bath-robes  at  the  entrance  to  their 
room,  and  were  grinning  at  the  spectacle. 

"  Where  is  Mr.  Bernardi  ?"  demanded  the 
captain. 

67 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

"  He  is  not  here,  sir,"  was  the  answer. 

"  Not  here  ?    Where  is  he,  then  ?" 

No  one  answered,  and  with  a  scowl  and  mut- 
tering something,  Captain  Harmer  left  the 
place  to  go  to  the  bridge  to  watch  the  rescue. 
Half  an  hour  had  nearly  elapsed,  and  the  New 
York  had  swung  around  close  to  Ensign  Wil- 
kins  and  his  crew.  The  search-light  was  thrown 
on  them,  and  those  on  the  ship  could  see  with 
a  sense  of  relief  that  they  had  found  McMas- 
ters  and  would  bring  him  safely  back. 

"  Hunt  up  Ensign  Bernardi  and  send  him  to 
my  quarters,"  said  the  captain  to  the  executive 
officer  as  he  left  the  bridge,  "  and  when  the 
crew  gets  back  do  your  best  to  catch  up  with 
the  fleet." 

"  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  the  l  old  man  '  in- 
tends to  rebuke  Bernardi  for  being  missing 
when  he  sent  for  him,"  whispered  the  executive 
officer  to  the  navigator. 

"  He  might  order  him  under  arrest,"  re- 
marked the  navigator. 

"  He  means  to  do  something,  or  he  wouldn't 
have  gone  to  his  quarters  in  a  rage  at  such  a 
time  as  this,"  said  the  executive  officer. 

Slowly  the  life-boat  battled  its  way  back  to 

the  New  York.    Wilkins  stood  up  in  the  stern, 
68 


THE  RESCUE  OF   MCMASTERS 

guiding  the  craft  from  wave  to  wave,  easing 
off  here  and  plunging  ahead  there,  to  avoid 
capsizing.  It  was  delicate  and  skilful  seaman- 
ship. The  struggling  sailors  were  almost  ex- 
hausted, and  Wilkins  was  urging  them  on  at 
every  stroke.  The  boat  finally  turned  under 
the  lee  of  the  big  cruiser,  lines  were  thrown 
down,  and  with  a  cheer  the  first  man  of  the 
rescue  crew  jumped  to  the  deck. 

"  Quick,  men !"  he  cried ;  "  lend  a  hand  to 
bring  up  those  exhausted  men.  McMasters  is 
all  right;  he'll  pull  through  after  a  time;  but 
it's  the  others  we  fear  for." 

After  a  painful  suspense  boat  and  crew  were 
on  deck,  and  two  figures  were  carried  forward 
to  the  "  sick  -  bay."  Five  minutes  later  the 
executive  officer  was  reporting  to  the  captain. 
The  ship  was  just  plunging  ahead  once  more. 

"  Did  they  save  McMasters  ?"  asked  Captain 
Harmer,  before  Mr.  Davis  could  speak. 

"  Yes,  sir.  He  was  almost  unconscious  when 
he  was  swept  over,  but  the  water  revived  him, 
and  he  kept  up,  until— 

"  Where  is  Mr.  Bernardi  ?"  thundered  the 
captain,  suddenly  interrupting  Mr.  Davis. 
"  His  absence  amounts  to  insubordination.  I 

have  a  good  mind  to.  order  him  under — " 
69 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

''  That's  just  it,"  said  the  executive  officer. 
"  He's  in  the  '  sick-bay  '  with  McMasters.  You 
see,  it  was  this  way:  Bernardi  saw  McMasters 
go  overboard,  and  jumped  after  him.  The  ship 
was  rising  when  he  jumped,  and  he  must  have 
had  a  thirty-foot  jump.  He  caught  McMasters, 
and  for  half  an  hour  kept  him  from  drowning. 
Both  were  about  to  go  down  for  the  last  time, 
when  they  were  pulled  in  by  Wilkins  and  his 
men.  The  doctor  says  that  he  thinks  Bernardi 
broke  a  rib  or  two  when  he  struck  the  water, 
but  that  he'll  pull  through  all  right.  He's  ter- 
ribly exhausted." 

Captain  Harmer's  eyes  danced  with  pride. 
"  Tell  the  navigator,"  he  said,  quietly,  "  that 
he  need  not  try  to  regain  his  place  in  the  fleet. 
Just  go  along  at  a  comfortable  pace.  And  you 
needn't  pay  any  attention  to  those  stores  for 
the  present.  When  we  get  in  a  little  smoother 
water  they  can  be  put  back.  We  shall  have  a 
story  worth  reporting  to  the  admiral." 

And  that  was  why  the  New  York  arrived  in 
Charleston  behind  all  the  other  ships  except  the 
Maine,  and  why,  a  few  weeks  later,  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy  in  person  presented  Ensign 
Bernardi  with  a  medal  for  "  distinguished  per- 
sonal bravery." 

70 


THE    PROFESSOR'S    SCORPION 
A  Midshipman's  Adventure  in   Upper  Guinea 

AR  along  one  of  the  rivers  of  Up- 
per Guinea,  Africa,  glided  a  barge 
having  a  swivel  in  the  bow  and 
with  a  small  canoe  in  tow.  It  was 
from  the  United  States  ship  Ranger,  then 
cruising  off  the  coast,  and  had  been  sent  on  an 
exploring  trip  in  charge  of  the  first  lieuten- 
ant. The  hardy  fellows  tugging  at  the  heavy 
oars,  the  officer  in  command,  the  bright-looking 
boy  midshipman  who  accompanied  him,  and 
Mr.  Needel — an  elderly  professor  of  natural 
history — gazed  about  them  with  deep  interest 
as  the  boat  kept  on.  Between  the  dense  masses 
of  water-canes,  acacias,  rattans,  and  tall,  curi- 
ous trees  which,  with  interlacing  branches  and 
wild  vines,  darkened  the  swampy  forest  through 
which  the  river  coursed,  the  barge  held  its  way. 
Monkeys  screamed  and  chattered  overhead,  and 
71 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE   SAM'S  SAILORS 

frightened  flocks  of  beautiful  paroquets  rose 
from  the  shrubbery.  The  pintado,  or  guinea- 
hen,  thrust  its  tufted  head  from  the  slender 
canes.  Far  up  among  the  vines  the  green  ape 
— or  callitriche,  as  the  professor  termed  it — 
swung  by  a  tendril  to  and  fro,  like  a  weird  lit- 
tle harlequin.  Suddenly,  as  the  boat  was  pass- 
ing a  stream  that  branched  off  from  the  river, 
the  naturalist,  pointing  that  way,  cried  out: 

"  A  scorpion !  a  scorpion !     I  must  have  it !" 

Adrift,  on  a  piece  of  floating  bark,  twenty 
yards  off,  could  be  seen  the  scorpion,  which 
was  of  a  rusty  iron  color,  and  fully  seven 
inches  long.  The  stream,  not  far  from  its 
mouth,  was  too  narrow  to  admit  the  barge,  so 
the  professor  was  allowed  the  use  of  the  canoe, 
and  the  midshipman  was  ordered  to  accompany 
him.  • 

"  Ay,  ay,  sir,"  promptly  answered  the  boy, 
as  he  nimbly  sprang  to  his  feet  and  arranged 
his  belt,  in  which  was  a  good  revolver,  besides 
the  usual  dagger. 

He  was  about  seventeen,  much  sunburned, 
and  of  a  sprightly,  pleasant  appearance.  He 
was  Mr.  James  Gray,  the  captain's  son,  liked 
by  all  his  shipmates,  and  especially  by  Needel, 

the  naturalist,   for  he  never  joked  about  the 
72 


THE    PROFESSOR'S   SCORPION 

"  old  professor  and  his  bugs,"  as  some  of  his 
gun-room  associates  did.  N"eedel,  on  this  oc- 
casion, wore  a  slouch  hat,  a  large  pair  of  green 
glasses,  immense  rubber  boots,  and  carried  a 
rifle.  A  waterproof  glass-topped  box,  for  the 
reception  of  any  curious  reptile  or  insect  he 
might  capture,  was  slung  to  his  back.  He  and 
his  young  companion  were  soon  paddling  the 
canoe,  and  the  barge  was  kept  slowly  on  its  way 
up  the  river.  The  naturalist  was  finally  en- 
abled to  capture  the  scorpion,  which  he  trans- 
ferred to  his  glass-topped  box.  Through  the 
glass,  the  creature,  which  was  shaped  like  a 
lobster,  could  be  seen  wriggling  about  in  a 
rage,  its  little  eyes,  in  the  ugly  head  that  seem- 
ed jointed  to  its  breast,  gleaming  like  a  couple 
of  green  sparks.  The  professor  pointed  out  to 
Gray  the  claws  in  its  two  hind  legs,  and  in  the 
last  of  the  six  bristly  joints  that  composed  its 
tail;  he  showed  him  the  hard,  pointed,  crooked 
sting,  through  a  hollow  of  which  it  ejects  a 
poison  liquid.  So  engrossed  was  the  captor 
with  his  prize  that  some  minutes  elapsed  ere 
he  was  ready  to  set  out  to  rejoin  the  barge. 
When  the  canoe  was  close  to  the  mouth  of  the 
stream  both  occupants  noticed,  half  hidden  by 
swamp-grass  projecting  from  the  shore,  an  ob- 

6  73 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

ject  resembling  a  large  dark  log.  But  while 
they  gazed  at  it  the  seeming  log  lifted  a  square, 
ugly  head,  and  went  crashing  through  some 
reeds,  where  the  water  was  shallow  enough  to 
disclose  nearly  the  whole  of  its  proportions, 
which  were  those  of  a  huge  hippopotamus. 

The  brute  was  about  eleven  feet  long,  and 
with  streaks  of  green  slime  depending  from 
its  thick  neck,  and  its  massive  head  and  jaws, 
and  patches  of  swamp  mud  adhering  to  its 
short,  ponderous  legs,  it  presented  a  hideous 
appearance. 

"  Make  no  noise,  professor,  and  we  may  pass 
it  without  being  seen,"  whispered  Gray. 

"  In  any  event,  I  must  save  my  precious 
scorpion,"  said  JSTeedel,  as  he  slung  the  box  con- 
taining the  insect  to  his  back. 

But  he  dropped  his  paddle,  and  the  noise 
was  heard  by  the  beast.  It  turned,  and  seeing 
the  light  vessel,  plunged  towards  it  with  open 
jaws,  snorting  and  bellowing  furiously.  The 
professor  seized  his  rifle  and  fired.  But,  un- 
used to  this  sort  of  weapon  in  a  rocking 
craft,  his  bullet  went  straight  down  into  the 
stream. 

As  the  brute  drew  nearer,  Gray  aimed  direct- 
ly at  its  throat  with  his  revolver;  but  scarcely 
74 


THE   PROFESSOR'S  SCORPION 

was  the  trigger  pulled  when  the  monster's  head 
dropped  under  water,  and  the  next  instant  the 
canoe  was  in  its  jaws.  Crack!  went  the  wood 
between  its  sharp  fangs;  then  with  a  powerful 
heave  it  turned  the  light  craft  over,  bottom  up. 
Both  the  occupants  were  hurled  headlong  into 
the  stream,  with  the  loss  of  their  firearms.  As 
the  boy  rose,  to  find  himself  neck  -  deep  in 
water,  he  almost  touched  something  huge  and 
dark  that  went  plunging  past  him.  It  was  the 
hippopotamus,  which,  with  a  roar,  had  thrown 
its  massive  form  straight  towards  the  natural- 
ist, who  stood  a  few  feet  to  the  left  of  the 
midshipman.  The  professor  dived,  and  the 
form  of  the  great  brute  fell  crashing  upon 
the  surface  near  where  he  had  vanished.  He 
came  up  close  to  Gray,  on  the  right  of  the 
beast,  which,  turning  and  bellowing  with 
rage,  dashed  towards  them.  Gray  splashed 
frantically  shoreward,  where  a  tree  with  low 
branches  promised  refuge  from  their  pursuer. 
Encumbered  by  his  long  boots,  the  professor 
lagged  behind  Gray,  who  therefore  retraced  his 
steps  and  caught  his  companion's  hand  to  help 
him  on.  Stumbling  along,  with  his  glass- 
topped  box  rattling  upon  his  back,  the  natural- 
ist, still  impeded  by  his  boots,  made  such  slow 
75 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

progress  that  the  fierce  pursuer  gained  fast 
upon  them. 

"  Here,"  cried  Needel  at  last,  while  they 
were  still  up  to  their  waists  in  water,  "  please 
take  good  care  of  my  box  and  scorpion." 

Letting  go  the  boy's  hand,  he  unslung  the 
box  from  his  back,  and  hastily  threw  the  strap 
about  Gray's  neck,  so  that  the  casket  hung  over 
his  breast. 

"  What  does  this  mean,  sir  ?"  inquired  the 
youth,  in  surprise. 

"  It  means,  my  young  friend,  that  you  must 
leave  me  to  shift  for  myself,  and  must  save 
your  own  life,"  was  the  reply.  "  I  am  only  a 
hinderance  to  you.  I  will  now  go  my  own  way, 
and  if  I  succeed  in  escaping  the  savage  brute 
I  will  rejoin  you,  and  reclaim  my  precious 
scorpion." 

The  roar  of  the  hippopotamus  was  now  close 
to  his  ear,  and  without  giving  Gray  a  chance 
to  object,  the  professor  went  stumbling  off  to 
the  right.  Attracted  by  the  great  splashing 
he  made,  the  huge  beast,  seeming  inclined  to 
choose  him  for  pursuit,  turned  off  in  chase. 
Determined  to  make  an  effort  to  save  his 
friend,  Gray,  drawing  his  dagger,  darted  swift- 
ly forward,  and  aimed  a  blow  at  one  of  the 
76 


THE   PROFESSOR'S   SCORPION 

animal's  eyes,  hoping  thus  to  disable  and  divert 
the  creature.  But  the  latter,  turning  upon  its 
assailant  as  he  struck  at  it,  caught  the  point  of 
the  weapon  on  its  hard,  bony  head,  and  the 
blade  snapped  asunder.  One  quick  swing  of 
that  ponderous  head  against  the  front  of  the 
boy's  shoulder  knocked  him  down  upon  his 
back,  under  water.  Needel,  who,  a  few  yards 
off,  had  just  paused  and  turned,  uttered  a  cry 
of  dismay  on  seeing  the  big  toothed  jaws 
plunged  beneath  the  surface  to  seize  the  fallen 
youth.  Then  he  heard  a  terrible  crunching, 
blending  with  a  brief  gurgling,  a  smothered, 
bubbling  gasp.  To  the  grief  -  stricken  pro- 
fessor these  noises  told  the  story  of  the  brave 
boy's  dreadful  fate.  He  wrung  his  hands  at 
the  thought  of  that  bright  young  form  crushed 
by  the  monster's  jaws.  The  midshipman  was 
a  general  favorite.  His  awful  doom  would 
overwhelm  his  father,  the  captain,  with  inde- 
scribable anguish,  would  strike  all  his  ship- 
mates with  unavailing  horror  and  regret. 

But  now  Needel  saw  the  hippopotamus 
quickly  lift  its  head  from  under  the  surface. 
With  a  loud  roar  it  went  plunging  off  into  deep 
water.  How  strange  were  its  actions!  From 

side  to  side  it  rolled,  twisting  its  massive  neck, 

77 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

and  biting  at  the  air  with  snapping  teeth. 
Once  it  dived,  but  rose  instantly  with  a  leap 
that  brought  half  of  its  bulky  form  to  view; 
then  it  fell  back,  and  swam  about  in  wild 
circles,  splashing  the  water  and  bellowing 
hoarsely.  The  naturalist,  looking  back  at  the 
spot  where  it  had  pounced  upon  its  victim,  was 
astonished  to  see  the  midshipman  standing  erect 
in  the  shallow,  just  recovering  breath  enough 
to  speak. 

"Why,  halloa!  What  does  this  mean?" 
cried  the  overjoyed  professor,  wading  towards 
the  youth. 

"  You  can  see,  sir,"  answered  Gray,  as  he 
held  up  the  strap  from  which  Needel's  glass- 
topped  box  had  hung  over  his  breast. 

"  Ah !"  cried  the  professor,  "  I  see  my  box 
is  gone;  that  I  have  lost  the  prize  I  captured 
— that  valuable  scorpion.  But  I  don't  care  for 
that,  I  am  so  glad  to  find  you  alive  and  un- 
hurt. Had  you  perished  I  should  always  have 
reproached  myself  with  having  been,  though  un- 
intentionally, the  cause  of  your  death,  since  it 
would  have  been  brought  about  by  my  coming 
to  this  stream  for  the  insect  and  by  your  try- 
ing to  defend  me  from  the  savage  beast  that 

pursued  me." 

78 


THE   PROFESSOR'S   SCORPION 

"  Your  box  was  chewed  to  fragments  — 
splintered  by  that  monster's  teeth,"  said  Gray. 
"  I  am  sure  it  was  the  means  of  saving  my  life. 
The  animal's  jaws,  as  they  were  thrust  towards 
me,  met  the  box  and  closed  over  it.  But  I  am 
puzzled  about  the  brute's  so  quickly  making 
off  after  this  without  a  further  attempt  to  mo- 
lest me." 

The  naturalist  also  thought  this  was  very 
strange. 

"  Thank  fortune,  however,  you  are  safe,"  he 
added.  "  When  I  heard  that  crunching,  not 
knowing  it  was  caused  by  those  fangs  going 
through  the  box,  I  felt  sure  you  were  being 
crushed." 

The  two  looked  at  the  infuriated  beast, 
which,  though  several  minutes  must  have 
elapsed  since  it  quitted  the  boy,  was  still  thrash- 
ing about,  with  awful  roars,  as  of  blended  wrath 
and  pain.  But  as  the  open  jaw  was  turned 
their  way,  the  spectators  discovered  why  the 
animal  had  so  quickly  left  Gray,  after  chewing 
the  box.  Fast  to  the  tongue,  far  in  towards  the 
very  root,  clinging  there  with  its  claws,  was 
the  professor's  jointed,  iron  -  colored,  lobster- 
shaped  scorpion,  inflicting  sting  after  sting 

upon  this  tender  part  of  the  brute  with  a  ma- 
79 


ADVENTURES   OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

lignant  fury  and  a  persistency  that  drove  the 
victim  to  the  verge  of  madness. 

And  now  the  barge,  whose  occupants  had 
been  attracted  by  the  reports  of  the  rifle  and 
revolver,  as  well  as  by  the  loud  bellowing,  ar- 
rived at  the  mouth  of  the  stream.  A  shot  from 
the  swivel  sent  through  the  thick  hide  of  the 
monster,  and  another  fired  between  its  jaws, 
soon  ended  its  life.  The  midshipman  and  his 
companion  were  then  taken  into  the  boat,  and 
in  the  telling  of  their  story,  the  professor  re- 
marked that  though  he  had  lost  his  precious 
scorpion,  he  was  overjoyed  instead  of  grieved 
on  that  account,  as  by  escaping  the  teeth  of  the 
hippopotamus,  when  it  crushed  the  box,  and  by 
fastening  to  and  stinging  the  creature's  tongue, 
the  venomous  insect  had  been  the  means  of  res- 
cuing the  captain's  son. 

Before  the  ship  left  the  coast  the  naturalist 
was  fortunate  enough  to  capture  another  scor- 
pion, larger  even  than  the  one  he  had  lost.  He 
kept  it  a  long  time,  and  for  this  addition  to  his 
collection  of  curious  insects  he  could  not  help 
feeling  a  sort  of  tender  regard,  as  it  never  fail- 
ed to  remind  him  of  how  his  young  friend,  the 
midshipman,  had  been  saved  from  an  awful 

fate. 

80 


THE    MID-AIR    SIGNAL 
In  the  Ice  of  Kamtchatka 

BITTER  disappointment  it  was 
to  little  Tom  Trent,  the  sailing- 
master's  son,  a  boy  of  twelve, 
aboard  the  coast  -  inspecting  ship 
Saracen,  when,  half  an  hour  after  eight  bells, 
noon,  on  May  14,  1855,  his  father  told  him  that 
a  midshipman's  warrant,  which  the  lad  had 
been  expecting  soon,  was  to  be  delayed  two 
years  longer. 

Sadly  the  little  fellow  cuddled  himself  on  a 
gun-slide  forward  of  the  waist;  but,  naturally 
of  a  bright,  cheerful  temper,  he  finally  arose, 
trying  to  feel  comforted. 

"  I  will  still  do  my  duty  like  a  true  man" 
thought  he,  drawing  up  his  small  form. 

The  vessel,  under  topsails  and  top-gallant 
sails,  with  a  strong  wind,  was  at  this  time  in 

the  Okhotsk  Sea,  a  mile  to  leeward  of  the  up- 
81 


ADVENTURES   OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

per  west  Kamtchatka  coast,  nearly  opposite  a 
purple  signal-flag  which  had  been  left  ashore 
by  the  Saracens  first  lieutenant  on  the  day 
before  for  a  high  -  water  mark  at  that  point. 
The  boy  now  heard  the  boatswain  say  that  as 
all  the  officers  of  the  ship  would  be  required  on 
this  day  to  attend  a  court-martial  to  be  held 
aboard  the  craft,  Wilton  French,  a  youth  of 
fifteen,  the  nephew  of  the  master's  mate,  who 
was  also  expecting  a  warrant,  would  be  sent, 
instead  of  a  midshipman,  after  the  flag. 

Presently  quick  orders  came;  the  maintop- 
sail  was  laid  to  the  mast,  and  the  gig  piped 
down.  Tom,  having  received  permission  from 
his  father  and  the  captain  to  accompany 
French,  dropped  lightly  into  the  boat,  which 
was  then  rowed  landward  by  its  crew.  As  a 
fog  was  spreading,  the  captain  had  given  strict 
orders  to  French  to  return  as  soon  as  possible 
to  the  ship,  and  not  to  stop  to  molest  the  seals 
among  the  ice-drifts.  When  at  last,  however, 
the  boat  grated  against  a  long,  wide  strip  of 
fixed  ice  extending  from  a  shore  cove,  beyond 
which  was  the  signal-flag,  the  mate's  nephew, 
noticing  that  the  ship  was  then  concealed  by 
the  fog,  thought  it  was  a  good  time  for  a  little 
sport. 

82 


THE  MID-AIR  SIGNAL 

"  I'm  going  to  have  a  crack  at  that  fellow 
with  the  boat-hook  before  the  fog  hides  him," 
he  said,  pointing  to  a  seal  on  a  floating  ice- 
cake  astern. 

"  No,  no !"  cried  Tom ;  "  the  captain  told 
you  not  to  meddle  with  the  seals." 

"  Oh,  come,  stow  that,  young  Peter  Proper !" 
retorted  French. 

Then,  in  obedience  to  his  command,  the  cock- 
swain was  about  to  give  the  rudder  a  twist, 
when  Tom  sprang  out  on  the  fixed  ice  and  held 
the  boat  firmly,  to  hinder  its  being  turned. 

"  Let  go  that  gunwale !"  cried  French,  an- 
grily- 

Tom  stoutly  held  on.  "  I'm  doing  my  duty, 
Wilton ;  preventing  you  disobeying  orders,"  he 
said. 

French  leaped  out  at  him,  and,  being  very 
strong,  pulled  him  away  from  the  boat. 

"  I'll  drag  you  ashore,  my  conscientious 
prig,"  he  shouted,  "  and  leave  you  there  till  I 
come  to  pick  you  up !" 

Little  Trent  resisted  vigorously. 

"  Look  out  for  that  ice  hole !"  cried  the  cock- 
swain, warningly,  for  during  the  struggle  the 
lads  had  slid  close  to  a  pool  in  the  ice. 

Just  then  French  slipped,  let  go  the  master's 
83 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

son,  and,  pitching  headlong  towards  the  pool, 
would  have  plunged  under  the  ice,  to  perish 
there,  had  not  Tom,  at  the  risk  of  his  own 
life,  braced  his  right  foot  against  the  opposite 
edge  of  the  opening,  thus  catching  the  falling 
youth  on  his  knee.  The  shock  nearly  knocked 
his  leg  from  its  position,  but  the  little  fellow 
having  his' heel  in  a  hollow  kept  it  firm,  other- 
wise both  boys  would  have  tumbled  into  the 
hole. 

After  the  lads  had  drawn  back  from  the  pool, 
Wilton  grasped  Tom's  hand,  thanking  him 
warmly.  "  But  I  must  have  my  way  about 
that  seal,"  he  added,  running  and  springing 
into  the  gig,  to  be  rowed  off  before  Tom  could 
reach  the  boat. 

Suddenly  the  report  of  a  gun  from  the  ship 
came  booming  over  the  waters.  "  The  recall 
gun !"  cried  Trent.  "  Quick !  Wilton,  come 
back,  while  I  go  to  fetch  the  signal-flag." 

French,  without  answering,  kept  on  after  the 
seal. 

Tom  ran  to  the  signal-flag.  As  he  plucked 
the  low  staff  from  the  rocky  crevice  that  held 
it,  close  at  hand  came  the  rumbling  roar  of  a 
gale.  The  cove  ice,  upheaved  by  a  swell,  split 
asunder,  preventing  his  return  over  it  to  the 

84 


THE  MID-AIR  SIGNAL 

gig,  which,  fearing  to  lose  more  time,  Wilton 
had  at  last  headed  back.  The  booming  of  a 
second  gun  from  the  ship  rolled  along  the  dark- 
ening sea.  With  flying  rack,  mist,  and  snow, 
a  cold,  biting,  howling  gale  came,  a  moment 
later,  scudding  from  the  east.  Trent,  waving 
the  flag,  now  stood  on  a  low  shelf  near  a  large 
bowlder  that  fronted  the  deep  cleft  of  a  tall 
rock  at  the  extremity  of  a  projecting  headland. 
French  strove  in  vain  to  reach  him.  The  vio- 
lent gale  blowing  directly  from  shore,  driving 
the  rushing  waves  and  the  ice  against  the  gig, 
forced  it  rapidly  back  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts 
of  the  crew.  A  great  sea  struck  the  rock  slant- 
ingly. Trent  was  hidden  by  the  waters  and  the 
spray.  After  the  sea  passed,  French  no  longer 
saw  him,  and  the  next  instant  the  storm  haze 
had  shut  the  rock  from  his  view. 

"  Lost !  Tom  is  lost !"  was  his  despairing 
cry.  "  All  my  fault,  too,  wasting  time  going 
after  that  seal." 

But  Tom,  who  heard  that  cry,  though  he 
could  no  longer  see  the  fast  -  receding  boat 
through  the  thick  mist,  had  not  been  washed 
away  by  the  great  wave.  He  had  narrowly 
escaped  by  throwing  himself  behind  the  con- 
cealing bowlder,  into  the  cleft  of  the  rugged 

85 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

wall.  Thoroughly  drenched,  he  at  length 
scrambled,  still  holding  the  flag,  to  a  higher 
shelf  of  the  rock  projecting  from  an  opening. 

Alone  on  that  uninhabited  part  of  the  cold 
Kamtchatka  coast,  with  no  means  of  making  a 
fire,  with  ship  and  boat  out  of  sight,  and  driven 
every  moment  farther  from  him  by  the  east 
gale,  Tom  began  to  despair.  He,  knowing  that 
French,  if  he  should  reach  the  Saracen,  would 
report  him  as  perhaps  lost,  now  realized  his 
peril. 

The  full  fury  of  this  gale  of  May  14,  1855, 
probably  remembered  by  any  mariner  living 
who  was  then  in  the  Okhotsk  Sea,  finally  broke 
forth.  Far  along,  to  the  uttermost  bounds  of 
the  sea,  there  was  one  continuous  crackling, 
crashing  roar,  like  the  incessant  discharges  of 
mighty  guns,  as  swiftly  westward,  dashing  to- 
gether and  rending  the  ice-drifts,  rolled  the 
great  green  walls  of  water.  Shivering,  with 
the  water  freezing  on  his  coat,  little  Tom 
crouched  in  the  lee  of  the  headland  rock, 
even  here  exposed  to  the  snow-drifts  and  sea- 
spray. 

"  I'm  a  lost  boy,"  he  muttered.  "  I'll  never 
get  my  midshipman's  warrant.  But  French 

will  reach  the  ship,  I  think,  and  he'll  tell  how 
86 


THE   MID-AIR  SIGNAL 

I  did  my  duty  about  the  seal  and  the  signal-flag 
to  the  last !" 

He  thrust  the  flag  through  the  opening  near 
him  in  the  rugged  wall.  His  limbs  were  stif- 
fening. He  crawled  through  the  opening,  to 
find  himself  in  a  slanting  fissure  extending  to 
the  rock's  summit.  It  was  wide  enough  to  en- 
able him  to  swing  his  arms  and  stamp  his  feet 
in  efforts  to  keep  warm.  But  it  was  bitterly 
cold  here,  too,  and  every  time  he  stopped  exer- 
cising the  biting  air  would  benumb  his  body. 

Night  came  on.  Faint  and  exhausted,  his 
movements  became  few  and  feeble.  The  storm 
still  raged.  Long,  dreary  hours  passed.  An- 
other day  dawned,  the  atmosphere  was  clear- 
ing, and  the  gale  had  subsided  to  a  gentle 
breeze.  Whitened  with  hardened  snow,  and 
partly  sheathed  in  the  frozen  waters,  the  tall 
headland  rock  resembled  some  crystal  tomb. 

Tom  lay  on  the  rugged  floor  of  the  fissure, 
near  his  signal-flag,  facing  the  opening  that 
fronted  the  ocean,  with  scarcely  power  enough 
to  move  his  benumbed  frame,  with  icicles  in 
his  hair  and  all  over  his  clothes.  Half-frozen, 
he  wanted  to  go  to  sleep.  Something  crept  to 
the  opening  and  looked  at  him.  It  was  a  small 

seal,  with  soft,  humanlike  eyes. 
87 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

"  Come  in,  little  shipmate,"  said  Tom,  in  a 
drowsy  voice. 

He  tried  to  raise  a  hand  to  pat  the  seal  on 
its  round  head,  but  then  it  glided  off. 

"  Little  friend  has  left  me,"  muttered  the 
half -unconscious  lad.  "  I  thought  he'd  be  com- 
pany, but  he's  gone." 

Now  he  heard  a  ringing  sound.  Innumer- 
able tiny  silver  bells  seemed  to  glitter,  swing, 
and  tinkle  before  him. 

"  How  strange !"  thought  the  boy. 

In  reality,  however,  what  he  saw  and  heard 
were  shining  icicles,  dropping  under  the  sun 
gleams  about  the  opening  in  front  of  him. 

He  was  hardly  aware  that  he  was  lapsing 
into  a  dreamy  state.  But  presently  the  weird, 
harsh,  barking  cry  of  a  walrus  not  far  off 
roused  him.  A  partial  sense  of  the  danger  he 
incurred  from  giving  way  to  sleep  nerved  him 
temporarily  to  struggle  against  it.  He  raised 
his  head,  looking  over  the  sea  with  his  half- 
shut  eyes  for  a  sail.  But  discovering  none, 
he  was  about  yielding  to  the  drowsy  influence, 
when,  afar  off,  where  a  thin,  misty  strip  re- 
sembling water  extended  high  above  and  paral- 
lel with  the  ocean,  he  saw  a  ship  slowly  sailing 
along  through  the  air!  The  strange  image 


THE   MID-AIR  SIGNAL 

seemed  double — another  ship  was  under  it,  up- 
side down,  with  its  masts  pointed  towards  the 
sea  so  far  below.  But  Tom  was  not  at  all 
startled.  Having  been  long  enough  in  the 
Okhotsk  Sea  to  know  that  such  spectacles  were 
not  uncommon  in  this  region,  where  he  had 
previously  witnessed  them,  he  was  convinced 
that  he  was  now  looking  upon  a  mirage.  The 
real  ship  was  too  far  off  at  sea  for  him  to 
discover  even  the  tops  of  her  masts,  yet  there 
was  her  image — he  knew  not  she  must  be  the 
Saracen — plainly  revealed  to  him,  doubly  re- 
flected high  in  air,  gliding  towards  the  deso- 
late coast. 

That  sight  roused  him  to  renewed  efforts  to 
keep  awake.  But  from  the  upper  part  of  the 
rock  big  lumps  of  frozen  snow  now  and  then 
dropping  before  the  opening  through  which  he 
gazed  must  finally  close  it.  Then  he  would  be 
entombed  and  never  discovered,  for  his  ship- 
mates, having  probably  heard  French's  report 
about  his  seeming  to  have  been  swept  off  by 
the  great  wave,  would  conclude  that  he  had 
really  been  lost.  But  if  he  could  show  a  sign 
they  might  come  here  to  look  for  him;  and  so 
with  great  difficulty  he  contrived  with  his  stif- 
fened fingers  to  push  the  signal-staff  through 
7  89 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

the  opening  far  enough  for  the  bright  purple 
flag  to  hang  over  the  rocky  shelf  outside,  and  he 
kept  it  so  by  resting  his  breast  upon  the  lower 
part  of  the  pole.  A  moment  later  the  mirage 
had  faded  away,  but  Tom  could  now  see  the 
tops  of  the  real  ship's  masts  above  the  ocean. 
In  a  short  time  the  opening  in  his  cave  was 
half-blocked  up  by  the  lumps  of  fallen  snow, 
while  in  the  mean  time  the  lad  was  having  a 
hard  struggle  to  keep  awake. 

It  was  a  long  struggle.  It  seemed  ages  to 
little  Tom;  but  at  last  his  eyes  closed,  and  he 
was  yielding  to  the  deathly  slumber,  when  the 
booming  of  a  gun  vibrating  through  his  brain 
created  a  vision  in  his  confused  mind. 

A  sort  of  "  frost  spirit "  seemed  to  appear, 
having  a  conical  cap  of  snow  ornamented  with 
minute  bells  of  ice.  Its  short,  thick  legs,  its 
whole  form,  and  its  face  were  sheathed  in  icy 
armor,  and  it  had  ice  gauntlets,  which  shook 
threateningly  at  the  boy  as  it  advanced,  cry- 
ing out : 

"  They  have  sent  a  boat,  and  are  firing  a  gun 
that  you  may  know  they  have  seen  your  signal ; 
but  I'll  have  you  in  my  embrace  before  they 
reach  you,  and  my  clasp  is  death !" 

On  it  came.    Tom  could  not  move.    Present- 
90 


THE   MID-AIR  SIGNAL 

ly  it  seemed  to  seize  him,  and  then  he  recovered 
from  his  dreamy  stupor  to  hear  his  father's 
well-known  voice. 

'*  Wake  up,  Tom !  wake  up,  my  boy !"  He 
opened  his  eyes.  He  was  in  his  father's  arms. 
A  sailor  was  pouring  brandy  from  a  flask  be- 
tween his  lips.  Another  was  bathing  and  chaf- 
ing his  head.  Presently,  wrapped  in  blankets, 
he  was  taken  to  the  cutter  that  had  come  ashore, 
and  an  hour  later  he  was  doing  so  well  aboard 
the  Saracen,  under  the  surgeon's  care,  that  he 
was  able  to  tell  his  father  about  the  mirage — 
that  sign  of  a  coming  ship — and  to  hear  ex- 
planations from  his  parent  in  return. 

"  French  succeeded  yesterday  in  reaching 
us,"  he  said,  "  before  the  full  fury  of  the  gale 
broke  forth.  His  story  about  you  was  a  heavy 
blow  to  me,  but  I  would  not  give  you  up,  hoping 
that  you  might  in  some  way  have  escaped  the 
great  wave  that  had  washed  the  rock.  There- 
fore, when  the  gale  had  subsided,  with  the  wind 
shifting  a  little  to  the  north,  our  ship  was 
headed,  close-hauled,  for  the  coast,  the  signal- 
flag  was  seen,  a  cutter  was  finally  lowered,  a 
gun  fired,  and  with  some  sailors  I  reached  the 
headland  rock  to  discover  you  through  the  gap 

in  the  opening,  which  was  not  yet  closed  by 
91 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

the  snow  clumps  lying  in  the  fissure,  from 
which  we  soon  rescued  you." 

French  had  honestly  told  the  captain  about 
his  own  disobedience  of  orders,  and  how  Tom 
had  not  only  opposed  him,  but  had  also  saved 
his  life.  The  captain,  after  praising  the  suf- 
ferer both  for  doing  his  duty  and  for  his  pluck, 
promised  to  reward  him  with  the  midshipman's 
warrant  in  a  year's  time.  French's  warrant, 
for  his  misconduct,  was  to  be  put  off  indefinite- 
ly; but  he  did  not  mind  this,  so  overjoyed  was 
he  at  the  rescue  of  Trent. 

The  latter  at  the  time  promised  received  his 
warrant,  and  there  never  was  a  happier  boy. 


A    DUEL    WITH    HARPOONS 

The  Skipper's  Naval  History  and  its  Results 

|OME  years  ago  a  "  down  -  east  " 
whaling  captain  was  dining  with 
a  number  of  American  ship-masters 
at  a  hotel  in  Honolulu.  The  oc- 
casion was  a  Fourth-of-July  dinner  given  in 
honor  of  the  day  by  one  of  the  resident  mer- 
chants, who  was  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 
Being  served  on  the  piazza  of  the  house,  the 
surroundings  were  not  altogether  of  a  private 
nature,  and  while  the  spread-eagle  talk  of  the 
guests  at  the  table  was  quite  amusing,  and  not 
devoid  of  interest  to  the  general  company  seat- 
ed in  the  vicinity,  there  was  a  group  of  foreign 
naval  officers  who  evidently  failed  to  relish  the 
somewhat  pointed  and  at  times  unkindly  re- 
marks aimed  at  them  by  the  Yankees,  whose 
enthusiasm  and  boasting  kept  pace  with  the 

generous  measures  of  stimulant  that  went  round 
93 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

the  board  with  rather  startling  regularity.  At 
high  -  water  mark  in  the  dinner  the  whaling 
captain  climbed  on  top  of  his  chair,  and 
proceeded  with  an  old  -  fashioned  backwoods 
Fourth-of-July  oration. 

"  Ladies  an'  gentlemen,"  he  commenced, 
although  there  was  an  absence  of  the  fair  sex, 
"  this  is  ther  Fourth  of  July,  ther  day  our 
forefathers  made  up  their  minds  that  it  was 
'bout  time  we  stopped  Johnny  Bull  from  bul- 
lying us,  an'  treating  us  's  if  we  was  only  good 
'nough  ter  kneel  down  in  ther  mud — Jersey 
mud  at  that — an'  dust  off  his  shoes.  This  is 
ther  day  that  ther  people  of  this  ere  present 
United  States  of  America  declared  theirselves 
jest  as  good  as  any  King — in  fact,  that  they 
was  all  kings,  but  that  as  jewelry  was  putty 
high,  they  would  dispense  with  ther  crowns. 
Well,  ladies  an'  gents,  our  daddies  had  told 
George,  him  that  was  King  of  that  ten-acre  lot 
across  th'  Atlantic,  that  if  he  didn't  stop  mon- 
keying with  us  we  would  up  an'  do  somethin' 
ter  rile  him  putty  sharp;  but  George  didn't 
seem  ter  think  we'd  dare  do  it  fer  all  our  sass 
to  him;  but  when  he  found  out  that  our  dog 
wasn't  all  bark,  then  he  went  ter  work  an' 

sent  over  his  war-ships  an'  his  sailors,  an'  's 
94 


A  DUEL  WITH   HARPOONS 

if  he  thought  that  wasn't  goin'  ter  be  'nough 
ter  wallop  us,  he  went  an'  paid  er  lot  of  furrin 
troops  ter  come  over  an'  make  targets  of  our 
granddaddies.  Well,  yer  see,  ther  Continental 
Congress  wasn't  no  slouch,  an'  so  they  sent 
down  ter  Virginia  an'  told  George  Washington 
ter  quit  raising  terbaccer  long  'nough  ter  come 
up  North  an'  lambaste  them  Britishers  an' 
Hessians,  an'  teach  'em  that  Americans  wasn't 
going  ter  let  'em  go  raidin'  'round  this  great 
an'  glorious  country  a-shootin'  of  peaceable 
people  down  at  Lexington  because  they  didn't 
git  off  ther  public  square  quite  quick  'nough 
for  ter  suit  'em;  then  ergen  settin'  fire  ter 
barns,  an'  even  goin'  so  far  's  ter  go  inter 
houses  an'  rip  open  ther  feather-beds  our  grand- 
mammies  set  sech  store  by  an'  empty  ther 
molasses  jug  inter  ther  middle  of  'em  jest  out 
of  derned  cussedness.  Well,  ladies  an'  gents, 
we  went  ter  work  an'  gave  ther  Britishers  a 
blame  good  lickin'  at  Bunker  Hill,  nigh  Bos- 
ton, State  of  Massachusetts;  then,  after  we 
kinder  got  rested  a  bit,  we  started  in  and  gave 
'em  hail  Columbia  at  er  place  called  Trenton; 
an'  while  sech  of  our  boys  as  Morgan  was  er 
knockin'  spots  out  of  ther  redcoats  down  South, 
old  Ethan  Allen,  without  firm'  a  shot,  was 

95 


ADVENTURES   OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

capturin'  forts  in  ther  name  of  ther  '  Great 
Jehovah  an'  ther  Continental  Congress ' ;  an' 
our  old  ships  was  fightin'  ther  best  English 
frigates  afloat,  an'  takin'  'em  inter  port  ter  be 
turned  inter  American  men-o'-war.  An'  while 
we're  talkin'  about  lickin'  ther  British  navy, 
'ladies  an'  gents,  don't  let  us  forgit  about  Paul 
Jones  an'  his  rotten  old  ship  called  ther  Good 
Man  Richard,  that  went  inter  ther  English 
Channel  an'  dared  George  ter  send  his  ships 
out  ter  fight  him,  an'  when  at  last  George  fitted 
out  the  Serapis  a-purpose  to  down  John  Paul, 
an'  told  Capt'n  Pearson,  him  as  commanded 
ther  Serapis,  ter  go  out  an'  git  ther  same  John 
Paul  an'  bring  him  in  chains  ter  London  as 
er  pirate,  John  Paul  laughed,  an'  sent  word  ter 
George  that  'f  he  didn't  keep  er  civil  tongue 
'twixt  his  teeth  he  would  sail  up  ther  Thames 
River  some  mornin',  an'  chuck  er  cannon-ball 
inter  George's  palace  jest  as  all  ther  swells  was 
a-going  ter  breakfast.  Well,  ladies  an'  gents, 
ther  two  ships  met,  an*  what  was  ther  result 
of  ther  fight  ?  Why,  there  was  only  one  result. 
John  Paul  sees  the  Serapis  a-comin',  an'  says 
John  Paul,  says  he,  '  She's  a  pretty  nice-lookin' 
craft;  guess  I'd  better  capture  her.'  Well, 
ladies  an'  gents — no,  not  ladies  an'  gents,  but 
96 


A  DUEL  WITH   HARPOONS 

fellow  -  citizens  an'  countrymen  —  what  hap- 
pened when  John  Paul  let  drive  at  ther  proud 
Britisher  ?  All  his  guns  was  old  an'  rotten,  an' 
whenever  he  fired  'em  off  they  bust  an'  killed 
ther  men  what  were  handlin'  'em,  so  in  a  few 
minutes  John  Paul  had  only  a  few  guns  left 
on  the  upper  deck  what  hadn't  bust,  an'  his 
ship  was  on  fire  close  ter  ther  magazine,  an'  so 
many  of  his  men  was  killed  that  ther  blood  was 
a-runnin'  out  of  ther  scuppers  ankle  -  deep. 
Ther  Britisher  was  less  'n  er  hundred  feet 
away,  a-plunkin'  ther  Good  Man  Richard  at 
every  crack  with  cannon-balls  heated  red-hot, 
so  's  ter  set  fire  to  her;  an'  jest  then  John 
Paul's  carpenter  rushed  up  from  below,  an' 
runs  up  ter  John  Paul,  who  was  a-standin' 
cool  's  you  please  on  ther  poop-deck,  an'  he 
yells  out,  scart  like,  '  Ther  ship's  sinkin',  sir !' 
Well,  the  Britisher  was  that  close  he  hears  what 
the  carpenter  says,  so  he  grabs  up  his  speakin'- 
trumpet,  an'  calls  ter  John  Paul,  '  Do  you 
surrender?'  An'  John  Paul  he  looks  at  ther 
British  captain  kinder  scornful  like,  an'  says, 
'  I  haven't  commenced  ter  fight  yet.'  What 
was  ther  result?  As  I  said  before,  there  was 
only  one  result,  for  John  Paul  he  hooked  on  to 

ther  Britisher,  drove  all  ther  English  'sailors 
97 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

below,  clapped  ther  hatches  on  to  'em,  then 
hauled  down  ther  flag  that  George  was  so  con- 
ceited over,  an'  runs  up  th'  American  banner 
that  had  a  rattlesnake  painted  on  it,  an'  un- 
derneath it  was  the  words,  (  Don't  tread  on  me.' 
In  conclusion,  fellow-citizens,  let  us  always  re- 
member that  we've  licked  ther  Britishers  twice, 
an'  we  can  do  it  again." 

In  the  midst  of  the  applause  that  followed 
the  grand  wind-up  of  the  skipper's  address  one 
of  the  naval  officers,  conceiving  that  the  speech 
just  rendered  had  been  intended  as  an  insult  to 
his  party,  approached  the  half-tipsy  whaling 
captain,  and  said: 

"  Sir,  I  demand  satisfaction  for  your  un- 
pardonable public  attack  upon  my  nation.  Un- 
less you  are  a  coward,  you  will  not  seek  to 
escape  the  natural  consequences  of  your  con- 
temptible conduct.  I  will  send  my  representa- 
tive to  arrange  the  time  and  place  of  meet- 
ing"; and  bowing  haughtily,  he  rejoined  his 
party. 

It  is  needless  to  state  that  the  utmost  excite- 
ment attended  the  breaking  up  of  the  dinner. 
Several  Hawaiian  gentlemen  present,  who  were 
familiar  with  the  English  officer's  proficiency 

in  sword  and  pistol  practice,  told  the  skipper 
98 


A  DUEL  WITH   HARPOONS 

that  it  would  be  simply  committing  suicide  for 
him  to  encounter  the  naval  gentleman,  and  sug- 
gested that  he  either  evade  the  meeting  by  offer- 
ing an  explanation  to  the  effect  that  no  affront 
was  •  intended,  or  by  going  on  board  his  ship 
and  setting  sail.  To  all  this  well-meant  advice 
the  captain  turned  a  deaf  ear,  stating  that  he 
had  only  told  the  truth,  and  that  he  was  willing 
to  stand  by  what  he  had  said,  let  the  conse- 
quences be  what  they  might.  He  then  request- 
ed a  brother  captain  to  act  as  his  second,  and 
arrange  for  the  encounter,  but  gave  him  in- 
structions to  the  effect  that,  being  the  chal- 
lenged party,  the  choice  of  weapons  rested  with 
him,  and  that  in  case  this  matter  was  brought 
up  by  the  other's  second,  to  inform  him  that 
they  would  be  produced  on  the  field. 

By  morning  it  was  known  all  over  town  that 
a  duel  was  to  be  fought  that  afternoon  on  the 
beach  just  beyond  the  outskirts  of  the  city. 

For  an  hour  previous  to  the  time  appointed 
for  the  meeting,  the  majority  of  the  male  in- 
habitants had  either  reached  the  scene  or  were 
on  their  way  thither.  Promptly  on  time  the 
captain  was  rowed  ashore  in  his  whale  -  boat, 
and  when  he  stepped  out  on  the  sand  he  was 
observed  to  carry  a  slender  bundle  under  his 

99 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE   SAM'S  SAILORS 

arm.  Almost  immediately  the  English  officer 
and  his  party  arrived,  the  second  carrying  two 
delicate  swords  and  a  square  case,  inside  of 
which  reposed  a  pair  of  duelling-pistols.  Upon 
being  requested  to  make  his  choice  between  the 
two,  our  whaling  friend  refused  to  fight  with 
either,  and  asked  if  the  laws  of  the  duello 
were  not  to  govern  the  affair.  Upon  being  so 
assured,  the  captain  then  asserted  that  as  the 
challenged  party  he  would  name  and  supply 
the  weapons.  Opening  his  bundle,  he  produced 
two  harpoons,  and  coolly  requested  his  second 
to  present  them  to  his  opponent  for  selection. 
The  English  party  protested  against  such  sav- 
age implements,  claiming  that  it  was  to  be  a 
fight  between  two  civilized  men,  and  not  spear- 
throwing  savages ;  but  the  captain  insisted  that 
the  harpoon  was  the  only  weapon  with  which 
he  was  familiar,  and  that  his  antagonist  must, 
according  to  duelling  law,  abide  by  his  choice. 
To  this  the  challenger  loftily  stated  that  he  was 
ready  and  anxious  to  settle  the  matter  with 
such  arms  as  became  a  gentleman,  but  that  he 
positively  refused  to  descend  to  the  level  of  a 
butcher  to  satisfy  the  whale-sticking  inclina- 
tions of  his  adversary.  He  then  withdrew,  fol- 
lowed by  the  laughter  of  the  audience. 
100 


HOW   THE    POWDER-BOY   GAVE    US 
COURAGE 

|T  was  in  June,  1869,  that  the 
United  States  gun -boat  Tuscarora 
anchored  off  Bridgetown,  Barbados, 
bound  to  Key  West,  Florida,  from 
Valparaiso,  Chile.  Our  stay  at  Barbados 
promised  to  be  a  gay  one.  We  arrived  in  the 
morning,  and  after  the  usual  ceremonial  and 
social  calls  upon  the  men-of-war,  our  consul, 
and  the  officials  on  shore,  we  were  informed  by 
the  captain  that  we  would  remain  in  port  three 
days. 

Almost  before  our  anchor  was  wet  we  re- 
ceived invitations  to  a  ball  that  was  to  be  given 
that  night  by  the  garrison  officers,  to  lawn  par- 
ties, and  to  more  dinners  than  we  could  accept. 
With  our  reception  and  dance  that  we  decided 
to  give  the  day  before  we  were  to  sail,  our 
hours  off  duty  were  all  engaged. 

I  was  a  midshipman  at  that  time,  and  was 
101 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

on  duty  the  night  we  arrived.  I  had  the  first 
watch,  from  eight  until  midnight.  At  five 
bells,  half -past  ten,  I  was  congratulating  my- 
self that  I  had  only  an  hour  and  a  half  more 
"  to  plank  the  deck,"  when  the  quartermaster 
reported  the  mail-steamer  in  sight.  The  cap- 
tain left  orders,  as  he  went  on  shore  to  the  ball, 
to  board  the  mail-steamer  immediately  on  ar- 
rival and  make  inquiry  as  to  news  from  the 
States.  Before  she  was  at  her  buoy  I  was 
alongside  in  the  dingy,  and  as  soon  as  pra- 
tique was  granted,  I  went  on  board,  with  the 
usual  inquiry,  "  What's  the  news  ?" 

The  news  was  important  and  exciting :  Spain 
was  about  to  declare  war  against  the  United 
States.  There  was  no  cable  at  that  time  to  Bar- 
bados, and  this  was  the  first  information  we 
had  of  the  serious  relations  that  existed  be- 
tween the  two  countries. 

Upon  returning  on  board  the  Tuscarora  I 
was  immediately  sent  on  shore  to  inform  the 
captain  of  the  news  from  the  steamer.  After 
some  delay,  I  found  a  trap  on  the  lee  side  of 
the  small  garden  in  Nelson  Square,  which  faces 
the  inner  harbor.  The  driver  said  he  was  en- 
gaged by  some  actors  of  a  travelling  theatrical 

company  that  was  playing  in  Albert  Hall.     I 
102 


HOW  THE  POWDER-BOY  GAVE  US  COURAGE 

did  not  believe  him,  for  the  hotels  were  near  at 
hand;  and  if  he  spoke  the  truth,  my  duty  was 
so  urgent  that  I  felt  I  was  right  in  convincing 
him  that  my  gold  was  better  than  the  actors' 
silver. 

It  was,  as  the  driver  said,  "  a  beastly  night." 
The  trade-winds  blew  in  fresh  squalls,  with 
heavy  rain,  making  the  drive  to  Hastings,  the 
garrison  post,  a  very  disagreeable  one.  My  im- 
patience to  reach  the  captain  was  so  great  that 
long  before  we  reached  Hastings  I  had  climbed 
to  the  seat  beside  the  driver  and  insisted  upon 
taking  the  reins.  I  knew  better  than  he  how 
to  take  advantage  of  a  fair  wind,  and  as  we 
turned  to  starboard  and  port,  whenever  the 
wind  was  aft,  I  lashed  the  horse  into  a  run. 
When  we  brought  the  wind  ahead  I  slowed 
him  down  to  trot.  In  that  way  we  made  the 
best  time  possible. 

At  last  we  reached  the  garrison,  and  into 
the  ball-room  I  rushed,  dripping  wet.  The 
captain  happened  to  be  standing  near  the  door 
as  I  entered.  The  music  had  stopped  playing, 
and  instantly  I  was  the  centre  of  interest.  One 
after  another  of  our  officers  came  up  and  asked 
what  was  the  matter.  Before  I  left  the  ball- 
room my  message  had  been  repeated  so  many 

103 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

times  that  it  had  gone  around  the  room,  and 
just  as  I  passed  out  I  heard  it  stated  that 
"war  was  declared  by  Spain  against  the  United 
States." 

Immediately  on  arrival  at  Barbados  arrange- 
ments were  made  to  coal  ship,  and  before  sun- 
set the  coal-barges  were  alongside.  The  coal 
was  to  be  taken  on  board  during  the  following 
morning  watch,  but  the  news  from  the  mail- 
steamer  changed  all  arrangements. 

We  coaled  all  night,  and  the  next  forenoon 
found  us  under  way,  standing  to  the  westward 
under  sail  (the  Tuscarora  was  bark-rigged), 
with  half  a  gale  of  wind  after  us.  The  gale 
was  fortunate,  as  it  enabled  us  to  save  our  coal 
for  the  fight  that  we  midshipmen  hoped  to  ex- 
perience in  a  few  days. 

As  soon  as  we  were  fairly  under  way  we 
began  to  prepare  in  earnest  for  battle.  All  the 
drills  were  with  the  great  guns,  or  with  such 
instructions  as  would  be  of  use  in  battle.  To 
be  sure,  we  had  been  drilling  with  that  object 
in  view  all  the  cruise.  The  drills  of  a  man-of- 
war  always  have  in  view  the  possible  conditions 
of  battle,  but  with  our  prospects  the  drills  were 
carried  on  with  more  interest  and  more  care. 

Twice  a  day  we  had  "  clear  ship  for  action  " 
104 


HOW  THE  POWDER-BOY  GAVE  US  COURAGE 

and  great-gun  drill.  Several  times  at  night, 
during  the  week  and  more  that  passed  in  cross- 
ing the  Caribbean  Sea,  we  were  turned  out  by 
the  quick  beat  of  the  drum  that  called  us  to 
our  stations  for  fighting  the  ship.  When  the 
ship  rolled  so  heavily  that  it  was  dangerous  to 
cast  adrift  the  great  guns,  the  officers  and  men 
were  engaged  in  firing  at  targets  towed  astern 
and  hanging  from  the  fore-yard  arms. 

The  surgeon  gave  again  and  again  the  regu- 
lar instructions  that  are  given  to  the  officers 
and  men  in  regard  to  first  aids  to  the  wounded, 
so  that  there  was  not  a  man  or  boy  fore  and  aft 
but  knew  how  to  apply  the  tourniquet  to  the 
legs  and  arms,  and  how  to  pass  a  handkerchief 
around  the  head  to  stop  excessive  bleeding.  In 
order  to  drill  the  men  at  applying  the  tourni- 
quet, during  great-gun  drills  it  is  customary 
for  the  officers  of  the  divisions  to  call  out  such 
and  such  gun  number  wounded.  The  man 
whose  number  is  called  drops  to  the  deck,  ap- 
parently helpless,  and  the  two  men  who  are 
especially  stationed  as  aids  to  the  wounded  ap- 
ply the  tourniquet  or  handkerchief,  and  carry 
the  imaginary  wounded  man  to  the  hatch  lead- 
ing to  the  lower  deck,  where  he  is  lowered  and 

carried  to  the  sick-bay. 
»  105 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

I  never  saw  this  done  but  that  I  wondered 
if  I  would  be  the  one  to  be  so  handled  in  case 
war  had  been  declared  and  we  fell  in  with  a 
Spanish  man-of-war.  The  nearer  we  got  to 
Cuba,  the  more  I  realized  such  might  be  pos- 
sible. It  was  well  enough  to  laugh  and  joke 
at  mess  about  the  glorious  prospects  before  us. 
Every  midshipman  on  board  believed  he  would 
do  his  duty  in  case  of  a  fight.  We  sang,  as 
is  the  custom  of  midshipmen,  and  one  might 
easily  believe,  from  what  we  said,  that  all 
of  us  hoped  that  we  would  have  to  fight,  and 
the  bloodier  the  better.  I  longed  to  know 
what  each  one  really  thought.  For  myself, 
there  was  a  not  a  day  passed  after  we  left 
Barbados  but  that  I  wished  I  was  in  my 
father's  barn. 

It  is  about  eighteen  hundred  miles  from  Bar- 
bados to  Cape  San  Antonio,  at  the  western  end 
of  Cuba.  The  captain  intended  when  we  left 
Barbados  to  touch  at  Kingston,  Jamaica,  for 
coal,  but  the  fair  wind  we  experienced  carried 
us  within  two  hundred  miles  of  Cape  San  An- 
tonio before  it  was  necessary  to  furl  sail  and 
proceed  under  steam. 

The   wind    died    away    in    the    night,    and 

the  morning   of   June    19th   found   us   under 
106 


HOW  THE  POWDER-BOY  GAVE  US  COURAGE 

steam,  with  a  perfectly  smooth  sea,  standing 
for  the  southern  coast  of  Cuba. 

During  the  forenoon  we  again  cleared  ship 
for  action.  The  top-gallant  masts  and  yards 
were  sent  down,  flying  jib-boom  rigged  in  and 
securely  lashed  on  the  outside  of  the  ship,  and 
all  unnecessary  gear  was  removed  and  sent  be- 
low into  the  hold.  The  topmast  and  fore  and 
main  stays  were  snaked  down;  that  is  to  say, 
a  small  rope  was  seized  in  a  zigzag  manner 
from  one  stay  to  another  throughout  their 
length.  Extra  lashings  were  passed  around  the 
anchors.  The  fore-sail,  top-sails,  and  fore-and- 
aft  sail  were  left  bent  for  use  in  case  the  en- 
gine was  disabled.  Preventive  braces  were  hook- 
ed to  the  yard-arms.  Canvas  screens  were  put 
around  the  fore  and  main  tops  to  hide  the 
sharp-shooters  stationed  there.  The  fire-buckets 
under  the  tops  were  filled  with  water,  the  fire- 
hose laid  along  the  deck,  and  the  pumps  rigged. 
The  boat  sails,  well  wet,  were  passed  around 
the  boats,  to  prevent  their  being  set  on  fire  and 
splintering  about  the  decks.  All  canopies  were 
sent  below,  as  well  as  everything  else  that 
would  be  liable  to  injure  the  officers  and  men 
if  hit  by  projectiles.  The  extra  tiller  was 

shipped,  tackles  hooked  to  it  and  led  along  the 
107 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

deck.  The  hammocks  were  piled  about  the 
forecastle  bridge  and  poop  -  deck,  especially 
around  the  men  at  the  wheel,  to  give  at  least 
some  protection  against  small-arms.  Among 
the  last  things  done  was  to  sand  the  decks  fore 
and  aft  so  we  need  not  slip  in  one  another's 
blood. 

As  soon  as  the  ship  was  cleared  for  action 
the  captain  called  me  to  go  through  the  lower 
deck  with  him  while  he  inspected.  We  found 
everything  ready  and  in  ship-shape.  As  we 
entered  the  sick-bay  and  saw  the  surgeon's  as- 
sistants with  their  sleeves  rolled  up,  the  oper- 
ating-table in  place,  the  knives,  saws,  lint,  and 
bandages  laid  out,  ready  for  use,  I  am  free  to 
admit  that  the  thought  that  they  might  be  used 
on  my  legs  or  arms  produced  a  weakening 
effect  on  my  knees. 

We  finished  clearing  for  action  just  before 
noon,  the  men's  meal  hour,  and  the  ship  was 
in  that  condition  when  the  men  were  piped  to 
dinner. 

At  12.30  the  lookout  aloft  reported  land 
right  ahead,  and  in  a  few  minutes  he  reported 
a  steamer  apparently  heading  for  us.  The  ex- 
citement fore  and  aft  was  intense.  The  mid- 
shipman on  watch  and  the  chief  quartermaster 

108 


HOW  THE  POWDER-BOY  GAVE  US  COURAGE 

were  sent  aloft  to  watch  and  report  the  move- 
ments of  the  steamer.  In  a  few  minutes  they 
reported  that  she  looked  like  a  man-of-war,  and 
was  about  our  size.  It  was  but  a  short  time 
before  we  could  see  her  from  the  deck,  and  soon 
there  was  no  mistaking  her.  She  was  a  man- 
of-war. 

"  Can  you  make  out  her  flag  ?"  the  captain 
asked. 

At  first  the  lookouts  were  not  quite  sure,  but 
thought  she  had  English  colors.  After  a  more 
careful  look  they  were  sure  they  were  English. 

Immediately  the  captain  ordered  "  Beat  to 
battle."  As  soon  as  the  quick  beat  sounded, 
the  executive  officer's  orders,  "  Cast  loose  and 
provide!  Man  the  starboard  battery!  Load 
with  five  -  second  shell !"  were  heard  fore  and 
aft  the  ship. 

While  we  were  casting  loose,  the  captain  re- 
marked : 

"  It  is  well  to  be  ready.  She  looks  very  much 
like  a  Spaniard." 

Among  our  crew  there  were  several  men  who 
had  been  in  the  service  a  long  time,  and  had 
served  through  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  I  had 
been  in  close  touch  with  these  men  for  months, 
and  had  seen  them  cast  the  guns  adrift  many 

109 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

times,  but  I  never  before  noticed  the  deter- 
mined, earnest  look  upon  their  faces. 

We  had  hardly  finished  casting  loose  the 
guns  when  the  quartermaster,  who  was  still 
aloft,  reported,  "  She  has  hoisted  the  Spanish 
flag  at  each  mast-head."  There  was  no  longer 
a  doubt  in  our  minds  but  that  we  were  at  war 
with  Spain. 

There  was  some  little  delay  in  the  powder 
division  in  opening  the  magazine  and  shell- 
rooms,  at  least  so  it  seemed  to  me,  and  I 
thought  the  Spaniard  would  run  us  down  be- 
fore we  could  get  our  guns  loaded.  This  was 
no  doubt  due  to  the  nervous  strain  I  was  un- 
der, which  was  not  relieved  by  seeing  one  of 
the  old  men  sprinkle  more  sand  about  the 
deck. 

Our  men  were  a  fine  lot.  Most  of  them  were 
young  and  strong,  with  some  bright  boys  who 
were  stationed  at  the  guns  to  supply  the  pow- 
der. I  noticed  when  we  were  casting  loose 
that  the  old  men  who  knew  what  fighting  was 
seemed  to  be  very  cool,  while  most  of  the  young 
men  were  white  as  a  ghost.  Instantly  I  won- 
dered how  I  looked.  ,1  knew  how  I  felt,  for  it 
seemed  to  me  I  could  not  keep  my  knees  from 

trembling.     Fearing  that  the  men  would  notice 
110 


HOW  THE  POWDER-BOY  GAVE  US  COURAGE 

my  condition,  I  went  on  the  port  side  to  see  if 
everything  was  in  place  at  the  port  battery, 
and  stepping  behind  the  hatch  near  the  divi- 
sion, I  took  hold  of  my  knees  and  tried  to 
quiet  them  in  the  game  of  tag  they  were  play- 
ing. 

In  order  that  we  might  entice  the  Spaniard 
near  us,  we  screened  our  battery  as  much  as 
possible.  A  royal  was  thrown  over  the  gun  on 
the  forecastle,  the  pivot  ports  were  hauled  up, 
other  ports  lowered,  and  the  port  bucklers  put 
in  place.  The  pivot-guns  were  pivoted  to  star- 
board, and  the  broadside  guns  run  into  taut 
breechings.  All  the  guns  were  quickly  loaded, 
except  the  after-gun  of  my  division,  which  was 
on  the  quarter  -  deck.  The  men  of  that  gun 
seemed  to  be  more  nervous  than  the  others;  at 
least  so  it  seemed  to  me.  As  the  loader  took 
the  charge  from  the  powder-boy  he  dropped  it 
on  the  deck.  The  tie  of  the  cartridge  -  bag 
slipped,  and  the  powder  was  scattered  about  the 
deck.  The  older  men  at  the  gun  began  to  growl 
at  the 'carelessness  of  the  loader.  One  of  them 
said,  "  I  hope  it  will  be  his  luck  and  not  mine," 
referring  to  the  saying,  "  Powder  spilled  be- 
fore a  fight  will  be  washed  by  blood  before  the 
night." 

Ill 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

Just  as  this  remark  was  made,  Harry,  the 
powder-boy,  had  another  cartridge  ready.  As 
he  handed  it  to  the  trembling  hands  of  the 
loader  he  said: 

"  What's  the  matter  with  you  ?  I  guess  you 
forget  what  flag  is  flying  aft.  We  can  lick  the 
Spaniards  as  easy  as  we  can  eat  duff." 

"  You  are  right,  my  lad,"  said  the  officer  of 
the  division.  "  That  is  the  kind  of  talk  that 
wins." 

Instantly  everybody  was  fired  with  the  boy's 
courage.  The  shake  of  the  knee,  the  tremble  of 
the  hands  were  gone,  and  the  heart  quickly 
forced  the  color  into  the  blanched  cheeks.  We 
were  all  ready  for  the  Spaniard  in  a  moment. 
I  never  saw  the  men  take  hold  of  the  gun- 
tackles  with  such  eagerness. 

Just  as  all  was  ready  the  captain  ordered: 
"  Starboard !  Steady !  Kun  out !"  The  ship 
swung  to  port,  the  gun-ports  were  opened,  and 
the  guns  were  quickly  run  out  and  ready  for 
firing.  At  the  same  instant  the  Spaniard,  be- 
ing close  aboard,  was  evidently  satisfied  with 
our  looks.  He  also  put  his  helm  a-starboard, 
and  with  a  very  low  bow  to  our  captain,  and 
with  excuses  for  coming  so  close  to  us,  the 

Spaniard  stood  to  the  eastward. 
112 


"'l  GUESS  YOU   FORGET  WHAT  FLAG   IS  FLYING  AFT'" 


HOW  THE  POWDER-BOY  GAVE  US  COURAGE 

"  He  took  us  for  a  filibuster,"  said  our  cap- 
tain, which  was  a  fact. 

The  saying,  "  Powder  spilled  before  a  fight 
will  be  washed  by  blood  before  the  night,"  did 
not  come  true,  but  Harry's  words,  "  We  can 
lick  the  Spaniards  as  easy  as  we  can  eat  duff," 
have  never  been  forgotten,  and  made  Harry  a 
hero  in  our  eyes.  Twenty-nine  years  after- 
wards the  war  with  Spain  came  in  earnest, 
and  the  events  at  Manila  and  at  Santiago 
showed  how  the  men  of  the  navy  answered  the 
test  of  real  battle. 


THE    YOUNGEST    FILIBUSTER 

Tontito  and  the  Naval  Officers 

N  all  Key  West  there  was  not  an- 
other bootblack  who  gave  so  poor  a 
"  shine  "  for  cinco  centavos,  or  who 
was  at  the  same  time  so  steadily 
employed,  as  Tontito.  There  were  a  surprising 
number  of  bootblacks  in  Key  West,  or  Cayo 
Hueso  (pronounced  Kio  Wayso),  which  is  the 
real  name  of  the  place,  and  which  means  Bone 
Island;  but  of  them  all  only  two  or  three  were 
white.  The  others  were  black  or  brown,  and 
many  of  the  latter  were  Cuban  lads,  whose 
parents  have  fled  to  this  country  as  refugees. 
At  the  same  time  the  island  city,  lying  on  the 
edge  of  the  tropics,  seventy  miles  south  of  the 
most  southerly  mainland  of  the  United  States, 
was  not  a  very  promising  place  for  bootblacks, 
since,  except  on  Sundays  or  other  holidays, 

four-fifths  of  its  twenty  thousand  inhabitants 
114 


THE   YOUNGEST  FILIBUSTER 

did  not  care  whether  their  boots  were  polished 
or  not.  Only  the  officers  of  the  garrison  of 
the  naval  station  and  of  the  war-ships,  one  or 
more  of  which  were  generally  stationed  at  Key 
West,  seemed  to  want  their  boots  "  shined " 
every  day.  These  therefore  were  the  prizes 
most  eagerly  sought  by  the  ragged  little  boot- 
blacks who  infested  every  shady  corner  of  the 
hot,  white  streets. 

With  all  of  these  gentlemen  Tontito  had 
become  a  prime  favorite  within  a  week  after 
his  first  appearance  among  them,  because,  while 
he  was  not  a  success  as  a  bootblack,  it  was 
quickly  discovered  that  he  could  dance  to  the 
rattle  of  castanets,  whistle  like  a  mocking-bird, 
and  sing  in  a  clear,  sweet  voice  all  the  most 
popular  Cuban  ballads.  He  was  also  a  clever 
mimic,  and  could  reproduce  to  the  life  all  that 
was  most  comical  in  the  movements  of  the 
Cuban  awkward  squad  that  drilled  incessantly 
with  broomstick-guns  out  on  the  South  Beach, 
the  military  stride  of  the  commandant,  or  the 
absurd  attempts  of  tourists  to  climb  cocoanut- 
trees. 

In  all  other  respects  the  sober  -  faced  little 
chap  appeared  to  be  mentally  lacking.  Ap- 
parently he  did  not  know  one  word  of  English, 
115 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

and  when  addressed  in  that  language  only 
smiled  foolishly.  Even  when  questioned  in 
Spanish  he  rarely  replied;  or,  if  he  did,  his 
answers  were  so  meaningless  that  every  one 
declared  him  to  be  half-witted,  and  so  he  was 
called  Tontito,  which  means  a  little  fool. 

The  one  thing  that  he  did  seem  to  thorough- 
ly appreciate  was  the  value  of  money,  which 
he  sought  eagerly,  and  held  so  tenaciously  that 
no  one  ever  saw  him  spend  a  single  cent.  At 
the  same  time  he  never  seemed  to  have  any 
money,  and  many  were  the  surmises  as  to  what 
he  did  with  all  the  nickels,  dimes,  and  even 
quarters  that  were  tossed  to  him  by  the  good- 
natured  officers  whom  he  so  often  amused 
during  their  hours  of  leisure.  It  could  not 
be  discovered  that  he  had  any  home,  or  that 
he  belonged  to  any  one  in  particular,  though 
all  Cubans  appeared  to  have  a  very  friendly 
feeling  towards  him.  He  ate  whatever  was 
given  to  him,  and  slept  wherever  he  happened 
to  be  when  sleep  overtook  him,  which  was  very 
often,  for  he  was  notoriously  the  sleepiest  lad 
on  the  island. 

His  favorite  haunt  in  the  daytime  was  the 
great  naval  building  at  the  inner  end  of  the 

government  wharf,  which,  with  its  thick  brick 
116 


THE  YOUNGEST  FILIBUSTER 

walls,  ample  air  spaces,  and  through  draughts, 
is  the  coolest  place  in  Key  West.  Here,  more 
than  anywhere  else,  were  to  be  met  groups  of 
officers  willing  to  be  entertained  by  the  lad's 
singing  or  dancing.  Here,  too,  if  there  was 
nothing  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  business,  was 
a  capital  place  for  sleeping. 

Tontito  was  such  a  pathetic-looking  chap  in 
his  rags,  with  his  great  pleading  brown  eyes, 
at  the  same  time  being  so  unobtrusive,  so  amus- 
ing, and  occasionally  so  useful,  that  he  was 
soon  allowed  the  same  liberties  about  the  sta- 
tion as  were  accorded  to  the  commandant's 
Irish  setter  Colon.  Moreover,  the  boy  and  dog 
became  such  fast  friends  that  they  were  often 
to  be  seen  curled  up  together  for  their  daytime 
naps  in  the  coolest  corners  of  the  command- 
ant's own  office,  where  they  only  attracted  good- 
natured  smiles  from  such  officers  as  happened 
to  notice  them.  Even  if  they  chose  for  their 
resting  -  place  the  pile  of  waste  -  papers  under 
his  writing  -  table,  they  were  never  disturbed, 
unless  it  was  by  black  Caleb,  the  official  mes- 
senger of  the  naval  station,  who,  disliking  both 
Cubans  and  dogs,  would  drive  Tontito  and 
Colon  from  the  room  whenever  an  absence  of 

officers  permitted  him  to  do  so  unrebuked. 
117 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

Although  our  young  bootblack  and  privi- 
leged entertainer  of  United  States  officers  was 
a  Cuban,  he  seemed  to  take  no  interest  in  the 
terrible  war  for  freedom  that  raged  on  his  na- 
tive island,  only  eighty  miles  away,  and  could 
not  be  induced  to  talk  about  it  even  by  such 
of  his  American  friends  as  spoke  Spanish.  At 
the  same  time  it  formed  the  all  -  absorbing 
topic  of  conversation  in  Key  West,  where  every 
one  sympathized  with  the  patriots,  or  "  insur- 
gents," as  the  Spaniards  called  them.  The 
city  was  filled  with  refugees,  who  had  fled  from 
their  beloved  island  to  escape  the  cruel  tyran- 
ny of  General  Weyler,  its  Spanish  Governor, 
and  most  of  these  had  suffered  at  his  hands  in 
one  way  or  another.  Many  of  them  were  the 
families  of  brave  men  who  were  fighting  for 
freedom  under  Gomez  or  Rivera,  and  nearly 
all  had  relatives  or  friends  in  deadly  Spanish 
prisons.  Thus  all  were  interested  in  extend- 
ing every  possible  aid  to  the  patriot  fighters  by 
sending  them  supplies  of  arms,  ammunition, 
medical  stores,  and  the  many  other  things 
needed  to  carry  on  the  war  for  liberty. 

Even  the  Americans  of  Key  West  sympa- 
thized with  the  Cubans,  and  were  always  will- 
ing to  aid  their  cause.  Of  course  the  United 

118 


THE   YOUNGEST  FILIBUSTER 

States  government  was  obliged  by  the  law  of 
nations  to  observe  a  strict  neutrality,  and  to 
prevent,  if  possible,  the  departure  of  expedi- 
tions from  its  shores  to  aid  those  in  rebellion 
against  the  lawful  authority  of  a  friendly  gov- 
ernment. For  this  purpose  it  kept  a  fleet  of 
armed  vessels  constantly  patrolling  the  Florida 
coast,  and  several  of  these  were  generally  to  be 
found  in  or  near  Key  West  harbor.  Of  course, 
also,  the  officers  of  these  vessels  were  bound  to 
obey  orders,  and  do  all  that  lay  in  their  power 
to  capture  or  prevent  the  departure  of  the  fili- 
bustering expeditions  that  Cuban  sympathizers 
were  constantly  striving  to  send  out,  though 
in  their  hearts  most  of  them  wished  success  to 
the  patriot  cause.  Such  was  the  condition  of 
affairs  that  greeted  Tontito's  appearance  in 
Key  West,  but  in  which  he  apparently  took  no 
interest. 

Although  such  United  States  officers  as  were 
stationed  at  Key  West  were  inclined  to  regard 
the  Cuban  cause  with  favor,  they  never  for  a 
moment  neglected  the  duty  that  bade  them  de- 
feat, if  possible,  the  plans  of  the  patriots,  and 
their  professional  pride  was  humbled  by  every 
expedition  that  successfully  eluded  their  vigi- 
lance. So  they  drew  their  lines  closer  and  closer, 
119 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S   SAILORS 

watched  every  vessel  that  left  Key  West  as  a 
cat  watches  a  mouse,  chased  them  upon  the 
slightest  suspicion,  overtook  even  the  fastest  of 
them  with  their  swift  cruiser  Flying-fish,  and 
finally  seemed  to  have  effectually  prohibited 
the  departure  of  any  expedition  from  that  port. 

In  the  mean  time  arms  and  ammunition,  for 
want  of  which  the  Cuban  cause  was  suffering, 
accumulated  in  great  quantities  at  Key  West, 
where  it  seemed  likely  they  must  remain,  and 
the  patriot  war  committee  was  in  despair.  At 
this  state  of  affairs  no  one  rejoiced  more  than 
did  black  Caleb,  the  official  messenger  of  the 
naval  station,  who,  as  has  been  said,  cordially 
hated  all  Cubans,  including  our  young  friend 
Tontito,  of  whose  popularity  with  the  officers 
he  was  intensely  jealous. 

One  afternoon  the  officials  who  had  estab- 
lished this  blockade  held  a  conference  in  the 
room  of  the  commandant,  where  they  congratu- 
lated one  another  on  the  success  of  their  plans. 
They  were  so  confident  of  having  put  an  end 
to  filibustering  at  that  point  that  they  decided 
to  send  two  of  their  vessels  up  the  west  coast 
that  very  evening,  leaving  only  the  Flying-fish 
to  patrol  the  waters  immediately  about  Key 

West,  and  with  this  understanding  they  sepa- 
120 


THE   YOUNGEST  FILIBUSTER 

rated.  After  the  meeting  had  adjourned,  and 
Caleb  was  putting  the  room  in  order,  he  dis- 
covered Tontito  curled  up,  apparently  fast 
asleep,  under  the  commandant's  table,  and 
angrily  drove  him  out.  As  the  lad,  ducking 
and  dodging  the  irate  messenger's  uplifted 
broom,  gained  the  street,  Caleb,  filled  with  a 
sudden  suspicion,  called  him  back,  and  upon 
his  refusal  to  obey  the  summons  started  in 
pursuit  of  the  young  Cuban.  Although  the 
boy  did  not  by  any  means  run  as  fast  as  he 
could,  he  easily  maintained  a  safe  lead,  until, 
after  dodging  through  a  number  of  narrow 
streets  and  blind  alleys,  he  finally  disappeared 
in  a  building,  at  once  recognized  by  his  pur- 
suer as  the  headquarters  of  the  Cuban  war 
committee. 

This  proceeding  so  confirmed  Caleb's  re- 
cently aroused  suspicions  that,  while  it  inter- 
rupted his  pursuit  for  the  moment,  he  had  no 
idea  of  giving  up  without  making  a  further 
effort  to  capture  the  young  spy,  as  he  now  men- 
tally termed  Tontito.  So  our  lad,  who  was  in 
turn  closely  watching  every  movement  of  his 
enemy,  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  him  slip 
into  a  house  across  the  way  that  commanded  a 

full  view  of  the  Cuban  headquarters.     From 
°  121 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

this  place  of  observation,  which  happened  to 
belong  to  one  of  his  friends,  Caleb  kept  a  sharp 
lookout,  until  he  finally  saw  a  dim  little  figure 
leave  the  opposite  building  and,  after  a  minute 
of  hesitation,  scud  away  in  the  direction  of  a 
wharf  much  frequented  by  sponging-craft  from 
the  reef. 

Again  taking  up  the  trail,  the  negro  followed 
it  hotly,  until  it  led  him  to  a  schooner,  on  the 
deck  of  which  he  discovered  Tontito  in  earnest 
conversation  with  a  man  who  appeared  to  be 
her  captain.  By  this  time  the  official  mes- 
senger of  the  naval  station  believed  himself  on 
the  eve  of  making  a  startling  discovery,  and, 
convinced  that  he  was  a  born  detective,  deter- 
mined to  watch  that  schooner  until  daylight, 
if  necessary,  in  the  hope  of  learning  why  the 
young  Cuban  had  visited  her.  So  he  concealed 
himself  among  the  partially  cured  and  evil- 
smelling  sponges  with  which  the  wharf  was 
filled,  and  held  his  uncomfortable  position  un- 
til after  midnight,  when  he  was  rewarded  by 
seeing  a  number  of  small  but  evidently  very 
heavy  boxes  taken  on  board  the  suspected 
schooner  in  silence,  and  with  every  appearance 
of  profound  secrecy.  Then  slipping  quietly 
away,  and  filled  with  the  importance  of  his 

122 


THE  YOUNGEST   FILIBUSTER 

mission,  the  self-appointed  detective  hastened 
to  the  quarters  of  his  commanding  officer. 

A  few  hours  later,  or  soon  after  daylight, 
the  swift  sponging-schooner  Night-hawk,  hav- 
ing for  her  sole  cargo  a  few  score  of  old  am- 
munition-boxes filled  with  sand,  was  standing 
up  the  reef  under  every  stitch  of  canvas  that 
she  could  carry,  and  hotly  pursued  by  the 
United  States  cruiser  Flying-fish.  As  the  lat- 
ter drew  near,  her  officers  could  see  through 
their  glasses  that  the  schooner's  crew  were 
throwing  her  cargo  overboard,  and  they  even 
picked  up  in  her  wake  two  broken  boxes,  one 
of  which  was  marked  "  rifles  "  and  the  other 
"  cartridges,"  but  when  they  boarded  their 
chase  she  had  an  empty  hold. 

In  spite  of  the  protests  of  her  captain  that 
he  had  done  nothing  wrong  and  was  only  pur- 
suing his  lawful  business,  he  was  ordered  back 
to  Key  West  to  account  for  his  suspicious  be- 
havior, as  well  as  for  a  member  of  his  crew 
whose  name  did  not  appear  on  the  schooner's 
papers.  This  person  was  none  other  than  our 
ragged  young  Cuban  friend,  Tontito,  who  ex- 
hibited an  unconcerned  gayety  even  when  land- 
ed at  the  government  wharf  and  taken  to  the 

commandant's   private  office  for  examination. 
123 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

Here,  to  one  of  his  naval  friends  who  could 
speak  Spanish,  the  boy  readily  confessed  that 
he  had  smuggled  himself  aboard  the  schooner 
for  the  purpose  of  joining  the  tug  Fearless, 
and  being  carried  by  that  slippery  filibuster 
to  the  island  of  Cuba. 

At  mention  of  the  name  Fearless  the  officers 
of  the  Flying-fish  who  were  present  pricked  up 
their  ears,  for  no  other  steamer  employed  by 
the  Cubans  to  run  their  expeditions  across  the 
water  had  been  so  successful  in  eluding  them. 
Nor,  until  this  moment,  had  they  received  an 
intimation  that  she  was  in  that  neighborhood. 
To  capture  her  in  the  very  act  of  filibustering 
would  be  to  gain  for  their  ship  a  wide-spread 
renown  and  render  themselves  famous. 

"  Where  is  the  Fearless?'  demanded  he  who 
could  speak  Spanish. 

"  In  the  Bahia  Honda,"  was  the  ready 
answer. 

"  How  do  you  know  that  she  is  there  ?" 

"  Does  not  every  Cuban  in  Key  West  know 
of  it,  and  talk  of  what  she  is  about  to  do  ?" 

"  What  is  she  about  to  do  ?" 

"  Quien  sabe  ?"  replied  the  young  Cuban, 
with  an  expressive  shrug  of  his  brown  shoul- 
ders. 

124 


THE  YOUNGEST  FILIBUSTER 

"Why,  then,  should  you  think  that  she  is 
going  to  Cuba  ?" 

"  Does  she  not  always  go  to  Cuba  ?"  inquired 
Tontito,  innocently. 

"  This  is  information  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance, provided  it  may  be  relied  upon,"  said 
the  captain  of  the  Flying-fish. 

"  Coming  from  the  source  it  does,  I  certain- 
ly regard  it  as  both  important  and  trust- 
worthy," replied  the  commandant  of  the  naval 
station.  "  This  half-witted  boy  can  surely  have 
no  object  in  attempting  to  deceive  us,  even  if 
his  foolishness  would  permit ;  and  knowing  how 
desperately  anxious  the  Key  West  Cubans  are 
to  start  off  an  expedition,  I  have  no  doubt  that 
the  Fearless  is,  as  he  says,  in  the  Bahia  Honda, 
perhaps  already  partially  loaded  for  the  trip." 

"  In  which  case  it  behooves  us  to  be  on  the 
lookout  for  her  without  further  delay,"  rejoin- 
ed the  captain  of  the  Flying-fish. 

As  a  result  of  this  decision  the  only  govern- 
ment vessel  then  in  Key  West  harbor  again  left 
her  moorings  in  a  hurry,  and  was  headed  to  the 
eastward,  followed,  so  long  as  she  was  in  sight, 
by  the  anxious  gaze  of  half  the  population  of 
the  city. 

The  Bahia  Honda  is  nearly  forty  miles  from 

125 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

Key  West,  and  when  the  Flying-fish  reached 
the  sea-buoy  off  its  entrance  her  lookouts  re- 
ported a  low  black  steamer  hurrying  up  the 
reef  as  though  endeavoring  to  escape  a  meet- 
ing with  the  government  ship.  It  was  almost 
certain  that  this  was  the  noted  filibuster  of 
whom  they  were  in  search,  and,  as  though 
spurred  by  her  discovery,  the  cruiser  instantly 
dashed  forward  at  full  speed  in  hot  pursuit. 

Swift  as  was  the  war-ship,  the  craft  in  ad- 
vance also  proved  herself  no  laggard,  and  for 
hours  maintained  her  lead  in  the  exciting 
chase.  The  cruiser  fired  shot  after  shot  with 
blank  cartridges  as  commands  for  the  fugitive 
to  lie  to  and  await  her  coming,  but  to  these  not 
the  slightest  attention  was  paid. 

"  Her  very  recklessness  betrays  her  guilt," 
remarked  the  commander  of  the  cruiser  to  his 
executive  officer,  "  and  when  we  catch  her  we 
shall  surely  find  her  to  be  a  prize  well  worth 
our  trouble." 

"  There  is  no  doubt  of  it,  sir,  and  at  our 
present  rate  of  gain  I  should  say  that  a  couple 
of  hours  more  would  bring  us  within  range." 

"  Let  the  rascals  have  a  solid  shot  as  soon  as 
you  are  so,  and  see  if  that  won't  bring  them  to 

terms." 

126 


THE   YOUNGEST  FILIBUSTER 

"  Very  well,  sir." 

Inch  by  inch  and  foot  by  foot  the  speedy 
Flying-fish  caught  up  on  her  chase,  until  at 
length  the  range-finders  showed  her  to  be  with- 
in reach,  and  a  cannon-ball  was  sent  hurtling 
after  the  little  flier.  It  struck  the  water  a  short 
distance  beyond  her,  and  instantly  her  engines 
were  stopped.  Five  minutes  later  her  captain 
was  on  board  the  cruiser,  indignantly  demand- 
ing to  know  why  he,  a  loyal  and  peaceable 
American  citizen,  engaged  in  his  legitimate 
business  of  searching  the  coast  for  wrecks, 
should  be  cannonaded  by  a  United  States  war- 
ship. He  vowed  that  he  had  not  heard  the 
signal-shots  fired  earlier  in  the  day,  was  not 
aware  until  a  short  time  before  that  he  was 
being  chased,  offered  his  papers  for  examina- 
tion, and  asked  that  his  vessel  be  searched  for 
passengers  or  unlawful  cargo. 

This  last  request  was  of  course  complied 
with,  and  while  his  steamer  proved  to  be  in- 
deed the  Fearless,  nothing  contraband  or  un- 
lawful was  found  in  her.  In  spite  of  this  the 
commander  of  the  cruiser  placed  an  officer  on 
board,  and  ordered  the  prize  to  follow  her  cap- 
tor back  to  Key  West,  which  was  now  more 

than  one  hundred  miles  away. 
127 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

The  sun  had  set  ere  the  two  vessels  turned 
their  prows  to  the  westward,  and  it  was  rising 
again  when  they  steamed  slowly  into  Key  West 
harbor.  Hardly  had  the  cruiser  gained  her 
mooring  when  she  was  boarded  by  an  officer 
from  shore,  who  brought  the  startling  intelli- 
gence that  the  largest  expedition  ever  sent  from 
the  United  States  to  the  Cuban  patriots  had 
slipped  out  of  that  very  port  during  the  pre- 
ceding night.  Three  hundred  well-armed  men 
had  gone  in  two  schooners,  which  had  also  car- 
ried a  battery  of  Gatling  guns,  several  thousand 
rifles,  a  great  quantity  of  ammunition,  and 
other  supplies. 

"  They  had  hardly  left  the  wharf  before  we 
were  on  their  track,"  concluded  the  officer. 
"  But  there  was  not  a  single  vessel  at  our  dis- 
posal with  which  to  overtake  them." 

"  And  we  were  off  on  a  wild-goose  chase," 
commented  the  commander  of  the  Flying-fish, 
bitterly. 

Two  days  later  a  despatch  was  received  that 
threw  every  Cuban  on  Cayo  Hueso  into  an 
ecstasy  of  joy,  for  it  told  of  the  successful  land- 
ing on  their  beloved  island  of  the  great  expe- 
dition, with  all  its  welcome  supplies. 

In  spite  of  the  success  of  this  expedition  that 

128 


THE  YOUNGEST  FILIBUSTER 

he  did  not  discover,  the  official  messenger  of 
the  Key  West  naval  station  continued  to  re- 
gard himself  as  a  first-class  detective,  and  had 
never  realized  how  adroitly  he  was  used  by 
Tontito  to  turn  the  attention  of  its  enemies  in 
another  direction.  So  far  was  he  from  suspect- 
ing that  the  boxes  which  he  saw  carried  on 
board  the  decoy  schooner  Night  -  hawk  were 
filled  with  sand,  that  he  still  chuckled  to  think 
how  he  caused  her  crew  to  throw  overboard 
thousands  of  cartridges  to  prevent  them  from 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  authorities. 

As  for  Tontito  ("the  little  fool"),  he  was 
supposed  to  haye  accompanied  the  expedition 
that  owed  its  splendid  success  to  his  ingenuity 
and  the  quick  wit  with  which  he  utilized  Ca- 
leb's dislike  and  self-confidence.  At  any  rate, 
he  was  not  seen  in  Key  West  after  that  time, 
and  though  his  official  friends  have  even  now 
no  proof  that  he  was  anything  but  a  half-witted 
and  very  sleepy  boy  who  was  occasionally  sent 
on  errands  by  the  patriot  war  committee,  near- 
ly every  Cuban  in  the  city  knew  otherwise. 
Most  of  them,  and  especially  the  poorer  of  the 
refugees,  to  whom  he  gave  every  cent  of  his 
money,  knew  that  he  was  the  only  son  of  a 

prominent  insurgent  leader,  who,  on  the  break- 
129 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE   SAM'S  SAILORS 

ing  put  of  the  war  for  liberty,  had  sent  him 
to  the  United  States  to  be  eolucated.  For  near- 
ly three  years  the  lad  was  kept  at  one  of  the 
best  military  schools  in  New  York  where,  how- 
ever, he  was  not  known  as  "  Tontito."  From 
it,  after  having  acquired  a  knowledge  of  Eng- 
lish, of  military  tactics,  and  of  many  other 
things  that  would  prove  very  useful  to  a  young 
Cuban  rebel,  he  had  mysteriously  disappeared 
shortly  before  the  time  of  this  story.  There 
was  only  one  thing  that  he  afterwards  under- 
took that  he  had  not  learned  to  do  well — but  he 
was  a  very  poor  bootblack. 


A    SCARED    FIGHTER 

An  Incident  of  the    War  with  Spain 

}T  was  fearfully  hot.  The  sun's  rays 
drove  straight  downward  through 
the  brazen  tropical  atmosphere  and 
buried  themselves  in  the  long,  oily 
folds  of  the  swells  that  ran  smoothly  and  si- 
lently towards  the  green  and  purple  border  of 
the  low  beach.  Hardly  a  breath  of  air  stirred 
the  glassy  surface  of  the  sea,  and  the  great  dun- 
colored  battle-ship  rolled  slowly  on  the  shallow 
waves.  Half  a  dozen  cadets  clustered  in  the 
shadow  of  the  after  turret,  their  white  duck 
uniforms,  somewhat  soiled  by  long  and  hard 
usage,  showing  clear  against  the  leaden  plates 
of  the  armor. 

"  Salt  mackerel !"  exclaimed  Harvey  Mer- 
rell,  blue-eyed  and  tawny-haired,  with  a  hollow 
mockery  of  down  on  his  upper  lip.  "  If  I'd 
supposed  that  I  was  ever  going  to  be  Santeed 

131 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

out  here  on  such  a  still-hunt  as  this  beastly 
blockade  duty,  I'm  not  sure  that  I  would  ever 
have  gone  into  the  service." 

"  Oh,  shut  up,  Harvey !"  exclaimed  Frank 
Fresco.  "  Kicking  doesn't  help  the  matter 
any,  and  just  makes  the  rest  of  us  more  un- 
comfortable." 

"  It's  the  lying  around  doing  nothing  that 
kills  me,"  said  Billy  Porter.  "  If  they'd  only 
give  us  something  to  do,  that's  what  I  want." 

"  But  just  think  how  unpleasant  that  would 
be  for  Goody  Dobbler!"  ejaculated  Sam  Sum- 
ner. 

This  remark  was  greeted  by  a  volley  of 
laughter. 

"  Say,  where  is  Goody  ?"  asked  Merrell. 

"  Below,  reading  his  Bible  or  the  regula- 
tions, I'll  bet  a  dollar !"  exclaimed  Fresco. 

"  He's  too  blamed  pious  for  me,"  said  Billy 
Porter.  "  If  it  ever  comes  to  an  out-and-out 
scrap,  he'll  stop  to  pray  instead  of  fighting." 

"  Well,"  said  Danny  Craven,  who  came  from 
a  whole  family  of  fighters,  and  who  had  so  far 
been  silent,  "  I'm  not  so  sure  about  that.  Some 
of  these  particularly  good,  milk-and-watery 
youngsters  have  better  staying  qualities  than 
we  imagine." 

132 


A  SCARED  FIGHTER 

"  I'll  bet  a  week's  pay  that  Goody  Dobbler 
has  no  fight  in  him,"  said  Sam  Sunnier.  "  He 
turned  as  white  as  a  sheet  when  the  sacred  fort 
opened  fire  on  us  the  other  day  at  something 
like  two  miles'  range,  and  hit  nothing  except 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  which  couldn't  get  out  of 
the  way." 

"I'll  back  Goody  to  fight  when  the  time 
comes,"  said  Danny  Craven. 

"  Oh,  rats !"  exclaimed  Billy  Porter.  "  He 
wouldn't  fight  Simpson  at  the  academy  over 
that  cigarette  business,  you  know." 

"  Because  he  didn't  believe  it  was  right," 
answered  Danny,  slowly.  "  Billy,  your  friend 
Goody  is  troubled  with  a  large  and  abiding 
sense  of  duty.  You  don't  know  what  that  is, 
my  son,  or  you'd  understand  Goody  better." 

"  Well,  I'll  bet  that  he's  half  scared  to  death 
every  time  he's  under  fire,"  retorted  Billy. 

"  I  wouldn't  be  surprised  if  he  were  pretty 
nearly,"  answered  Danny ;  "  but  he'll  stand  to 
his  gun  and  keep  right  on  firing  just  the  same. 
It's  very  easy  to  do  that  when  you're  not  afraid, 
but  it  takes  a  considerable  man  to  do  it  when 
he's  half  scared  to  death,  as  you  elegantly  ex- 
press it,  Billy." 

"  Oh,  Danny,  you  talk  like  a  grandmother. 

133 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE   SAM'S  SAILORS 

You  make  me  exceedingly  weary,"  said  Billy, 
impatiently. 

"  Billy,  you  mark  my  word,  my  son,"  said 
Danny,  in  his  even  tones,  apparently  not  notic- 
ing Billy's  rudeness,  "  you'll  get  yourself  into  a 
mess  if  you  don't  stop  being  so  impetuous." 

"  Humph !"  was  all  the  answer  Billy  Porter 
thought  it  worth  while  to  make  to  his  mess- 
mate. 

Joseph  Dobbler,  known  as  Goody,  was,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  down  in  the  junior  officer's 
mess-room  writing  a  letter  to  his  sister.  He 
had  always  been  a  quiet,  studious,  retiring  boy 
while  at  the  academy,  and  he  was  by  no  means 
in  love  with  war  now  that  he  was  face  to  face 
with  it  on  the  coast  of  Cuba.  But,  as  Danny 
Craven  had  said,  he  had  a  large  and  abiding 
sense  of  duty,  and  he  was  trying  hard  to  live 
up  to  it.  While  he  was  writing  his  letter,  the 
notes  of  the  bugle  rang  out  along  the  deck, 
sounding  the  call  for  the  first  and  second  steam- 
cutters.  Goody  looked  out  of  the  open  port, 
thinking  that  perhaps  the  flag-ship  had  come 
into  sight  and  summoned  the  captain,  but  she 
was  still  below  the  horizon.  As  he  turned  away 
from  the  port  a  messenger  entered,  and,  after 

saluting,  said: 

134 


A  SCARED  FIGHTER 

"  Mr.  Dobbler,  the  first  lieutenant  wants  you 
to  take  the  second  cutter  for  distant  service, 
sir." 

"  Very  good,"  said  Goody,  reaching  for  his 
belt  and  revolver. 

When  he  reached  the  deck  he  found  that 
Billy  Porter  was  standing  by  to  go  in  the  first 
cutter.  The  first  lieutenant  explained  the 
nature  of  the  duty  which  was  to  be  performed. 
Porter  was  to  proceed  to  a  point  some  four 
miles  farther  up  the  coast,  and  then  run  in 
close,  pick  up  a  cable,  and  cut  it.  Goody  was 
to  accompany  him,  and  to  lie  off  within  sig- 
nalling distance  to  render  assistance  in  case 
the  cable  proved  to  be  too  heavy  for  one  boat 
to  handle.  It  was  not  believed  that  there  were 
any  batteries  on  the  shore  near  the  point  to 
which  they  were  to  go,  but  there  would  prob- 
ably be  some  soldiers  in  the  woods,  and  a  light- 
draught  auxiliary  gun-boat,  formerly  a  yacht, 
was  to  shell  the  beach  with  her  three-pounders. 
She  was  now  lying  about  two  miles  away,  and 
had  been  signalled.  The  two  cadets  entered 
their  boats,  and  Porter,  being  the  senior,  shoved 
off  and  took  the  lead. 

"  Mr.    Porter,"   called   the   first   lieutenant, 

as  the  boats  moved  away,  "  please  be  as  dis- 
135 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE   SAM'S  SAILORS 

creet  as  possible,  and  don't  expose  your  men  to 
fire  needlessly." 

"  Ay,  ay,  sir,"  answered  Billy,  somewhat 
sullenly. 

"  I  don't  wish  he  were  less  daring,  but  I  do 
wish  he  were  more  thoughtful,"  muttered  the 
first  lieutenant. 

"  Old  fool !"  grumbled  Porter,  mentally. 
"  Does  he  suppose  I  can  do  anything  bold  with 
Goody  Dobbler  on  the  tow-rope  ?" 

For  some  time  nothing  was  heard  save  the 
"  chug-chug  "  of  the  machinery  in  the  two  cut- 
ters as  they  ploughed  through  the  glassy  blue 
water,  sending  long  ribbons  of  white  and  silver 
spreading  outward  from  their  blunt  bows. 
Goody  Dobbler  sat  erect  in  the  stern  of  his 
boat.  His  face  was  pale  in  spite  of  the  heavy 
coat  of  sunburn  which  a  month  in  Cuban 
waters  had  put  upon  it.  His  eyes  were  wide 
open,  with  a  strained  look  in  them,  and  his 
lips  were  tightly  compressed  till  they  were  al- 
most blue.  Billy  Porter,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
flushed  of  cheek  and  sparkling  of  eye.  He 
simply  thrived  on  the  excitement  of  action,  and 
it  was  a  source  of  unspeakable  delight  to  him 
to  be  sent  on  such  a  mission  as  this. 

The  converted  vacht  was  lying  immediately 
136 


A  SCARED  FIGHTER 

ahead  of  the  two  cutters.  She  was  rolling  gent- 
ly on  the  low  swells,  and  it  seemed  as  if  she 
were  just  out  for  a  day's  pleasure,  so  quiet  did 
she  look.  But  there  were  watchful  eyes  aboard 
of  her.  As  the  cutters  came  within  hailing 
distance,  a  voice  rang  out  through  the  mega- 
phone : 

"  Cutter  there !" 

"  Ay,  ay,  sir,"  answered  Porter. 

"  Come  close  alongside  of  us." 

In  obedience  to  the  order  of  the  lieuten- 
ant commanding  the  little  gun-boat,  the  two 
cutters  passed  close  to  her.  As  they  did  so, 
her  propeller  began  to  revolve  and  she  went 
ahead. 

"  You'd  better  keep  along  just  under  our 
quarter,"  called  the  lieutenant,  "  so  that  we 
can  keep  you  covered  till  we  get  in  as  far  as 
we  can  go." 

"  Very  well,  sir,"  answered  Porter. 

The  three  craft  now  slipped  slowly  and 
quietly  in  diagonally  towards  the  shore.  Every 
eye  was  strained  forward  in  the  hope  of  in- 
stantly detecting  any  sign  of  the  enemy.  The 
tropical  woods  and  jungle  were  as  silent  as  if 
they  had  been  in  a  picture  instead  of  real. 
Goody  Dobbler  took  off  his  belt  and  pulled  his 

10  137 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

revolver  out  of  the  holster.  Then  he  half 
smiled  at  himself. 

"  I  don't  think  we'll  get  close  enough  for 
that,"  he  muttered. 

A  few  minutes  later  the  yacht  put  her  helm 
hard  a-starboard  and  stopped  her  engines.  This 
threw  her  starboard  side  towards  the  shore,  and 
brought  three  rapid-fire  guns  to  bear.  At  the 
same  instant  the  two  cutters  steamed  out  from 
under  the  stern  and  moved  towards  the  shore. 
There  was  not  a  sound  from  the  beach,  which 
was  about  two  thousand  five  hundred  yards  dis- 
tant. When  the  two  cutters  had  gone  less  than 
half  that  distance,  Porter  said : 

"  You'd  better  stop  here,  Dobbler.  If  you 
come  in  closer,  you  might  get  hurt,  and  then 
you  couldn't  give  me  any  assistance." 

There  was  a  sneer  in  the  cadet's  tone  as  he 
spoke,  but  Goody  answered,  quietly: 

"  Very  well." 

He  stopped  his  cutter,  and  she  lay  idly  on 
the  water,  as  the  other  steamed  in  at  half-speed 
towards  the  shore.  Presently  she  reached  the 
spot  at  which  it  was  believed  she  would  find 
the  cable,  which  ran  into  a  small  bay.  Here 
Porter  stopped  his  boat  and  set  to  work  with 
his  grappling-tackle.  His  men  worked  with  a 

138 


A   SCARED  FIGHTER 

will,  while  the  perspiration  rolled  off  their 
faces  and  necks,  but  they  brought  up  nothing 
but  sea-weed  and  refuse  from  the  bottom. 

"  It  must  be  farther  to  the  westward  and 
nearer  the  opening  of  the  bay,"  said  Porter, 
as  he  gave  the  order  to  move  his  boat  in  that 
direction.  Selecting  a  new  location,  he  grap- 
pled again  for  half  an  hour  without  result. 

"Hang  it!"  he  exclaimed.  "We  might  as 
well  be  trying  to  pick  up  the  Atlantic  cable  in 
mid-ocean.  There's  too  much  water  under  us. 
We've  got  to  run  in  closer." 

The  cutter  moved  in  close  to  the  beach,  where 
the  surf  could  be  seen  breaking  in  long,  white 
lines  of  smoke.  Its  dull  roar  was  the  only 
sound  that  could  be  heard. 

"  There  isn't  a  dago  within  a  dozen  miles 
of  us,"  laughed  Porter. 

"  It  doesn't  seem  as  if  there  was,  sir,"  said 
the  cockswain  of  the  cutter ;  "  but  they're  such 
snaky  cusses  that  you  never  know  just  when 
you'll  find  them  in  the — 

The  cockswain  never  finished  his  speech,  but 
just  dropped  the  wheel,  threw  up  both  hands, 
and  went  over  the  side  of  the  boat  into  the 
water,  stone-dead.  A  faint  pop  from  the  dense 
jungle  on  the  shore  told  whence  he  had  got  his 

139 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

death-blow.  At  the  same  instant  the  shrill 
shriek  of  a  shell  was  heard,  followed  instantly 
by  the  sharp  crack  of  one  of  the  yacht's  three- 
pounders.  That  shot  seemed  to  have  struck  a 
hornet's  nest  in  the  woods,  for  at  the  moment 
when  it  plunged  into  the  jungle,  Spaniards  con- 
cealed there  opened  fire  from  several  field-guns. 
They  had  not  found  the  range  yet,  and  their 
shells  either  fell  short  or  flew  over  the  cutter. 
But  they  howled  around  it  in  a  perilous  man- 
ner. 

"  By  the  great  hook-block !"  exclaimed  Billy 
Porter,  "  this  thing  is  getting  lively.  We  must 
find  that  cable  pretty  quickly  or  the  dagoes  '11 
find  us/' 

"Hurrah!"  yelled  one  of  the  men  at  the 
grappling-tackle.  "  There's  either  a  cable  or  a 
whale  on  the  line,  sir." 

"  Heave  in  on  it  lively,  boys !"  cried  Por- 
ter. 

The  air  was  now  hissing  with  the  incessant 
flight  of  bullets  from  Mauser  rifles,  the  heavier 
whiz  of  the  projectiles  from  the  field-guns,  and 
the  scream  of  the  yacht's  three-pounder  shells. 
The  men  hove  up  their  tackle,  and  as  they 
found  the  much-desired  cable  on  it,  they  set 
up  a  wild  shout  of  triumph.  If  the  fire  had 

140 


A  SCARED   FIGHTER 

been  hot  before,  it  became  hotter  now.  A  storm 
of  bullets  swept  over  the  cutter.  Billy  Porter 
and  two  of  his  men  fell  at  full  length.  At  that 
instant  those  in  the  cutter  felt  a  slight  shock, 
as  the  second  cutter  came  alongside.  Goody 
Dobbler  sprang  lightly  from  his  own  cutter  into 
Porter's  and  then  said,  rapidly: 

"  Haul  off  with  the  second  cutter  out  of 
range.  Leave  two  men  from  her  in  this  boat. 
Lively,  now.  Keep  down,  Billy.  I'll  get  you 
out  of  this  all  right." 

"  Rats,  Goody !"  said  Porter,  trying  to  rise. 
"The  cable— it  isn't—" 

"  I  know  it  isn't,  but  it's  going  to  be." 

Seizing  the  heavy  axe,  with  a  few  powerful 
blows  Goody  drove  a  cold-chisel  through  the 
cable,  and  let  one  end  of  it  go  overboard. 

"  Here,  make  this  other  end  fast  there,  some 
of  you,"  he  panted,  his  face  as  white  as  a  sheet, 
and  his  eyes  terribly  strained. 

"  All  fast,  sir,"  came  the  quick  response. 

"  I^ow,  coxswain,  ahead  full  speed !  Let's 
get  out  of  this." 

The  cutter's  head  was  turned,  and  she  towed 
the  end  of  the  cable  a  few  hundred  yards  away 
from  its  original  position.  But  the  fire  from 

the  shore  continued  too  hot. 
141 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

"  Let  it  go !"  said  Goody,  in  a  husky  voice. 
"  It  '11  do  now." 

"  All  gone,  sir,"  answered  the  seaman  who 
had  just  cut  the  lashing. 

"  Now  get  alongside  the  yacht,"  Goody  gasp- 
ed. "  How  are  you,  Billy  ?" 

"Oh,  I'll  do,  I  guess.  It's  not  a  bad  one. 
Get  down  here  yourself,  Goody;  you  look  half 
scared  to  death." 

But  Goody  just  gripped  the  bulwarks  of  the 
cutter  with  his  hands  and  shut  his  teeth  till 
they  ground  audibly.  The  cutter  was  chug- 
chugging  away  for  dear  life  towards  the  yacht, 
which  had  come  in  closer,  and  was  sending  a 
tornado  of  shells  into  the  woods.  The  second 
cutter  was  near  her. 

"  Take  lines  there  in  the  cutters !"  shouted 
the  lieutenant  in  command  of  the  yacht,  "  and 
I'll  tow  you  out  of  range." 

The  lines  were  hove  and  caught  by  both 
boats. 

"  Where  are  the  officers  in  charge  of  those 
boats  ?"  yelled  the  lieutenant,  as  the  yacht 
started  racing  away. 

"  One's  wounded,  sir,"  answered  the  cock- 
swain of  the  first  cutter.  "  The  other's  here, 
sir." 

142 


A  SCARED  FIGHTER 

Goody  was  still  sitting  up  stiff  and  strained 
in  his  boat.  When  the  firing  from  the  shore 
ceased,  because  the  range  was  too  great,  the 
lieutenant  stopped  the  yacht  and  ordered  the 
two  cutters  alongside.  Porter  was  lifted 
aboard,  but  when  Goody  was  ordered  to  follow, 
he  did  not  move. 

"  What's  the  matter  there  ?"  asked  the  lieu- 
tenant. 

"  He's  badly  hit,  sir,"  said  the  cockswain  of 
Goody's  cutter. 

"  How  do  you  know  ?" 

"  He  was  hit  when  we  were  running  in,  sir. 
I  see  him  stagger.  Then  he  shuts  his  teeth 
that  way,  sir,  an'  he  says  to  himself,  '  It's  my 
duty.'  An'  in  he  went,  sir,  an'  jumped  into  Mr. 
Porter's  boat  and  cut  the  cable." 

It  was  only  a  few  days  before  Billy  Porter 
was  around  again,  but  it  was  weeks  before 
Goody  returned  to  duty.  Meanwhile  the  story 
of  his  bravery  had  been  told  many  times,  and 
he  found  waiting  for  him  an  ensign's  commis- 
sion. 

"  Say,  Goody,"  said  Billy  Porter,  "  I  want 
you  to  answer  me  a  fair  question.  Weren't  you 
half  scared  to  death  when  you  came  in  after 
me?" 

143 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

"  I  think  it  was  more  than  half,  Billy," 
answered  Goody. 

"  Well,  a  man  that'll  go  into  a  fire  like  that 
when  he's  half  scared  to  death,  just  because  he 
believes  it's  his  duty  to  do  it,  has  a  heap  more 
sand  than  I  have." 

And  that  speech  made  Danny  Craven  think 
more  of  Billy  Porter  than  of  anything  else  he 
did  in  the  Gulf. 


THE    BRAINS    OF    A    WAR-SHIP 

How  a  Cruiser  is  Managed 


|R.  EVANS!  Mr.  Evans!  It's 
ten  minutes  before  eight  bells, 
sir." 

"  All  right." 

u  It's  raining  pretty  hard,  sir." 
Mr.  Evans  rolls  out  of  his  bunk,  hastily 
sluices  his  face  with  cold  water,  and  jumps  into 
his  uniform.  Remembering  the  man's  words 
about  the  rain,  he  pulls  on  his  rubber  boots, 
wraps  himself  in  a  long  oil-skin  coat,  and  puts 
on  his  sou'wester.  His  hasty  toilet  completed, 
the  officer  emerges  from  the  wardroom,  hastily 
returns  the  salute  of  the  orderly,  and  scrambles 
up  to  the  spar-deck.  A  dash  of  cold  rain  strikes 
him  in  the  face,  and  he  pulls  the  collar  of  his 
oil-skin  coat  higher  around  his  neck.  Water 
three  or  four  inches  deep  is  swirling  and  hiss- 


145 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

ing  about  the  deck  as  the  United  States  cruiser 
Albany  sullenly  lurches  forward  into  the  fath- 
omless gloom  ahead.  Stumbling  and  slipping, 
the  officer  makes  his  way  to  the  ladder  leading 
to  the  bridge.  He  seizes  the  man-ropes  with 
both  hands  and  swings  himself  upwards  to  the 
elevated  platform,  where  another  man,  attired 
like  himself,  is  sending  a  strained  and  anxious 
gaze  out  over  the  bows. 

"  Anything  special,  Wilson  ?"  says  Mr. 
Evans. 

"  I've  sent  a  man  aft  to  secure  the  gripe  on 
the  dingy,  which  was  reported  loose.  Carter 
reports  from  the  engine-room  that  there  are 
slight  indications  of  heating  in  one  of  the  bear- 
ings. His  relief  will  notify  you  if  it's  neces- 
sary to  slow  down.  We're  running  at  only 
ten  knots  now.  That's  all." 

"  Eight  bells,  sir,"  speaks  a  voice  out  of  the 
darkness. 

"  Make  it  so." 

The  bell  rings  out  its  four  pairs  of  strokes. 
Instantly  a  voice  away  forward  says :  "  A-ll-11 
well.  Starboard  light  burning  brightly."  An- 
other voice  reports  concerning  the  port  light, 
and  hails  from  the  waist  and  after-guard  are 
heard.  A  bustle  on  the  forecastle  deck  tells  the 

146 


THE  BRAINS  OF  A  WAR-SHIP 

officer  on  the  bridge  that  his  junior  is  muster- 
ing the  watch.  Two  or  three  minutes  later  a 
petty  officer  comes  to  report  the  muster  com- 
plete, and  the  men  at  their  stations.  For  the 
next  half-hour  not  a  sound  is  heard  except  the 
throbbing  of  the  machinery,  the  dull  thunder 
of  the  seas  smiting  the  ship's  bow,  and  the  hiss- 
ing of  the  water  that  occasionally  breaks  over 
her  rail  and  tumbles  about  the  decks.  There  is 
a  heavy  sea  running,  and  every  spar  and  stay 
is  dripping  with  rain.  The  darkness  ahead  is 
impenetrable.  Ever  and  anon  the  lights  of  the 
ship  throw  dim  rays  upon  the  glancing  crest  of 
some  threatening  sea.  A  voice  from  the  dark- 
ness below  him  has  told  Mr.  Evans  that  the 
boat  gripe  is  secured.  On  the  stroke  of  eight 
bells  Mr.  Wilson  had  swung  himself  down  the 
ladder,  and  disappeared  in  the  gloom.  Mr. 
Evans's  mind  is  now  concentrated  on  the 
thought  of  possible  danger  ready  to  spring  out 
of  that  wall  of  blackness  ahead  of  the  ship.  A 
blast  of  wind,  colder  than  that  which  has  been 
blowing,  brings  a  sudden  thought  of  ice  to  his 
mind — ice  which  comes  upon  the  sailor  most 
unexpectedly  of  all  dangers  at  sea,  and  brings 
with  it  immediate  destruction. 
"  Boatswain's  mate !" 

147 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

"  Aye,  aye,  sir." 

"  Take  the  temperature  of  the  water." 

"  Aye,  aye,  sir." 

Five  minutes  later  the  temperature  of  the 
water  is  reported  as  normal,  and  Mr.  Evans 
breathes  a  sigh  of  relief. 

"  Ha !"  he  exclaims  to  himself,  half  aloud. 
"  The  wind  has  shifted  a  good  three  points." 
Then  he  calls  out,  "  Bruce,  give  me  the  wind 
and  the  barometer  for  the  last  watch." 

Bruce  is  the  officer  of  the  forecastle,  and  as 
junior  officer  of  the  watch  it  is  his  duty  to  make 
the  entries  in  the  log  regarding  wind,  barom- 
eter, and  other  weather  conditions.  The  report 
indicates  that  the  heavy  weather  is  about  to 
pass  away.  It  is  early  in  September,  and 
short  but  furious  gales  blow  frequently  in  the 
"  roaring  forties."  The  clouds  break,  and  here 
and  there  a  star  shows  itself.  The  vessel  ceases 
to  ship  water,  but  continues  to  roll  and  pitch 
heavily.  A  whistle  calls  Mr.  Evans  to  the 
engine-room  tube,  where  he  hears  the  pleasant 
words,  "  The  bearing  is  all  right,  sir."  So  he 
dismisses  that  subject  from  his  mind.  The 
clouds  drift  farther  apart,  and  the  moon  strug- 
gles through,  bringing  the  horizon  -  line  into 

sharp  relief  against  the  sky." 
148 


THE   BRAINS  OF  A  WAR-SHIP 

"  Messenger,"  calls  Mr.  Evans,  "  go  below 
and  get  my  sextant." 

The  instrument  is  brought,  and  the  officer 
takes  advantage  of  the  well-marked  horizon  to 
assure  himself  of  the  correct  latitude  of  the 
ship  by  an  altitude  of  a  star.  Ten  minutes 
later  the  strong,  white  cruiser  plunges  into  a 
solid  bank  of  fog,  and  the  anxiety  of  the  officer 
on  the  bridge  becomes  intense.  Lookouts  are 
doubled,  and  the  steam  siren  hurls  a  hoarse 
blast  of  warning  into  the  murky  atmosphere 
every  minute.  Hardly  half  a  dozen  of  these 
blasts  have  been  blown  when  the  captain  of 
the  ship  mounts  the  bridge. 

"  Good-morning,  Evans,"  he  says.  "  Thicker 
than  cheese,  isn't  it  ?" 

The  words  have  just  passed  his  lips  when 
there  is  a  shout  forward. 

"  Vessel  on  the  port  bow !" 

Through  the  thick  curtain  of  the  fog  they 
see  a  reeling,  shapeless  shadow.  Is  it  instinct 
or  the  quick  eye  of  a  trained  sailor  that  recog- 
nizes a  vessel  heading  so  as  to  strike  the  cruiser 
on  the  port  side?  The  captain  does  not  speak 
to  Evans,  nor  Evans  to  the  captain;  but  the 
former  springs  to  the  engine  -  room  telegraph 
and  signals,  "Ahead,  full  speed,  port  engine; 

149 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

astern,  full  speed,  starboard  engine !"  at  the 
same  time  calling  to  the  man  at  the  wheel: 
"  Hard  a-port !  Hard  over !"  Mr.  Evans  has 
seized  the  whistle-cord  from  the  hands  of  the 
man  who  was  stationed  to  sound  it  during  the 
fog,  and  has  pulled  out  a  long,  shrieking  yell, 
which  tells  that  the  vessel  has  put  her  helm 
a-port.  Back  through  the  fog  comes  another 
weird  scream,  and  the  next  moment  an  8000- 
ton  ocean  greyhound  tears  past,  not  seventy- 
five  yards  away  from  the  cruiser's  port  quarter. 

"  Hang  those  fellows !"  says  the  captain,  as 
he  heaves  a  sigh  of  relief  and  signals  the  en- 
gineer to  slow  down  again.  "  They  ought  to 
be  compelled  to  run  at  half  speed  in  the  fog." 

The  dull  gray  light  of  morning  appears. 
The  captain  descends  from  the  bridge  and 
walks  away  aft.  The  ship  seems  to  be  cutting 
her  way  through  a  heavy  gray  veil.  Suddenly 
the  lookout  forward  shouts: 

"  Wreck  dead  ahead,  and  close  aboard  of 
us!" 

"  Hard  a-starboard !"  says  Mr.  Evans. 

The  vessel  swerves  out  of  her  course  and 
passes  a  half-submerged  wreck  bottom  up — 
one  of  the  deadliest  dangers  of  the  sea.  A 
moment  later  the  thought  flashes  through  Mr. 

150 


THE  BRAINS  OF  A  WAR-SHIP 

Evans's  mind  that  the  cruiser  is,  as  the  sailors 
say,  "  running  in  with  the  land."  He  calls  the 
quartermaster  and  orders  him  to  get  ready  the 
deep-sea  sounding-machine.  A  few  minutes 
later  the  report  is  brought  to  him  that  bottom 
has  been  found  at  ninety-seven  fathoms.  He 
accurately  notes  the  time  at  which  the  sounding 
is  taken.  Ten  minutes  later  he  has  another 
sounding  made  in  seventy-five  fathoms,  and  ten 
minutes  later  still  another  in  fifty-eight.  All 
the  time  he  keeps  careful  record  of  the  course 
and  distance  made  by  the  ship.  By  compar- 
ing the  results  of  his  observations  with  the 
chart  he  is  enabled  to  tell  pretty  closely  the 
position  of  the  vessel,  and  his  next  words  are: 

"  Messenger,  report  to  the  captain  that  I 
make  the  ship  about  twenty-eight  miles  west- 
sou'west  of  Cape  Clear." 

This  message  brings  the  captain  back  to  the 
bridge.  In  a  few  minutes  the  fog  lifts,  and 
immediately  a  voice  cries,  "  Land  ho !"  It  is 
now  five  minutes  of  four,  and  Mr.  Evans' 
relief  mounts  the  bridge.  Again  eight  bells 
are  made,  and  Mr.  Evans,  relieved  in  more 
senses  than  one,  goes  below  to  sleep  a  well- 
earned  sleep  till  the  bugle  sounds  the  mess 
call. 

151 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

II 

It  is  five  minutes  before  eight  o'clock  on  a 
calm  September  evening.  The  cruiser  is  riding 
to  twenty-five  fathoms  of  cable  in  the  peaceful 
waters  of  an  Irish  harbor.  The  first  watch 
is  about  to  begin,  and  again  Mr.  Evans  comes 
on  deck  as  the  relief.  This  time  he  does  not  go 
upon  the  bridge,  but  walks  quietly  up  and  down 
the  quarter-deck.  The  riding-lights  had  been 
set  before  he  came  up,  and  there  is  little  for 
him  to  do  except  to  dream  of  home  and  friends. 

On  the  gun-deck  the  smoking  lamp  is  lit. 
The  yellow  glare  of  an  electric  light  fills  the 
crannies  around  the  polished  guns  with  glint- 
ing rays  that  deepen  the  silent  shadows.  Grave, 
weather-beaten  faces  are  screwed  into  a  hun- 
dred strange  curves  around  the  glowing  points 
that  tell  where  the  sailors'  comfort  breathes 
its  pungent  incense  from  the  bowls  of  the  pipes. 
Strange  rumbling  voices  pour  quaint  words  and 
quainter  thoughts  along  the  snowy  deck.  Sol- 
emn, preternaturally  grave,  Jack  is  killing 
time. 

Overhead,  on  the  spar-deck,  Mr.  Evans  walks 
slowly  up  and  down.  Ever  and  anon  he  raises 
his  head  and  throws  a  sweeping  glance  over  the 

152 


THE  BRAINS  OF  A  WAR-SHIP 

waters  surrounding  the  ship.  It  is  more  from 
habit  than  from  necessity.  The  silence  of  night 
on  the  water  is  broken  only  by  the  familiar 
sounds  of  a  harbor.  Yonder  the  hoarse  rattle 
of  a  cable  comes  down  the  wind,  telling  that 
another  craft  has  found  her  anchorage.  Anon 
the  faint  rhythmic  click  of  distant  oars  is 
heard,  and  a  stave  or  two  of  "'Way  Rio"  breaks 
musically  on  the  air.  Presently  the  sharp  hail 
of  a  guard  rings  out : 

"Boat  ahoy!" 

"Albany!"  comes  the  immediate  response. 

The  name  of  the  ship  in  answer  to  a  hail 
signifies  that  the  captain  is  in  the  approach- 
ing boat.  Mr.  Evans  receives  him  in  the  usual 
polite  manner.  A  blaze  of  light  flashes  upon 
the  quarter-deck,  gilding  the  brass -work  and 
sparkling  along  the  shiny  noses  of  the  six- 
pounders,  as  the  captain  opens  the  door  of  his 
cabin  and  goes  in. 

"  It's  ten  minutes  of  nine,  sir,"  says  the  mes- 
senger, saluting. 

"  Call  the  bugler,"  says  Mr.  Evans.  "  Boat- 
swain's mate !" 

"  Aye,  aye,  sir." 

"  Pipe  down." 

The  shrill  voice  of  the  boatswain's  whistle 

153 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

orders  the  men  to  turn  in  and  keep  silence.  At 
nine  o'clock  the  bugler  blows  tattoo,  and  taut 
hammock  clews  are  soon  vibrating  to  honest 
snores.  The  anchor  watch  is  set,  and  the  period 
of  rest  settles  down  over  the  cruiser.  Still  the 
officer  of  the  deck  walks  up  and  down.  The 
night  air  grows  chill.  He  shrugs  his  shoulders 
and  increases  his  pace.  The  wind  hums  a  lulla- 
by in  the  rigging.  The  water,  flowing  outward 
with  the  tide,  bubbles  childishly  around  the 
vessel's  forefoot.  The  very  ship  herself  seems 
to  sleep  and  dream. 


Ill 

At  sea  again.  Never  mind  the  year,  or  the 
day,  or  the  latitude  and  longitude.  Perhaps 
we  are  looking  into  a  future  that  may  never 
come.  Aloft  the  cruiser  looks  bare,  for  her 
topmasts  are  housed.  Alow  she  is  dingy,  for 
the  once  white  hull  is  painted  a  gray,  leaden 
color.  Mr.  Evans  walks  the  bridge  in  the  fore- 
noon watch  with  set  lips  and  anxious  eyes. 

"  Steamer  on  the  port  bow !" 

A  dead  silence,  broken  only  by  the  churning 
of  the  pistons,  falls  upon  the  ship  while  Mr. 

154 


THE  BRAINS  OF  A  WAR-SHIP 

Evans  questions  the  lookout.  The  stranger  is 
suspicious.  In  half  an  hour  suspicion  grows  to 
certainty.  It  is  a  cruiser  flying  a  strange  flag. 
The  executive  officer  takes  the  bridge  with 
speaking-trumpet  in  hand.  The  captain  stands 
beside  him.  Mr.  Evans  goes  aft  and  takes  com- 
mand of  his  division,  the  first,  consisting  of 
the  two  after  eight-inch  guns  and  the  two  six- 
pounders  that  frown  over  the  taffrail.  The 
captain  nods  at  a  midshipman,  who  delivers  an 
order  in  a  low  tone.  The  next  instant  the 
sharp  rat-a-tat  of  a  drum  breaks  upon  the  air. 
For  several  minutes  all  appears  to  be  confusion, 
as  men  come  bounding  up  from  the  hatchways 
to  the  deck  and  take  their  places  at  the  guns. 
Others  rig  shell -whips  and  stand  by  to  hoist 
heavy  ammunition  from  the  hold.  Others  go 
aloft  to  the  machine  and  rapid-fire  guns  in  the 
tops.  The  marine  guard,  with  glittering  rifles, 
musters  on  the  quarter-deck. 

"  Silence !  Cast  loose  and  provide !"  com- 
mands the  executive  officer,  in  short,  sharp 
tones. 

Sight  covers  are  thrown  off,  tompions  and 
muzzle  -  bags  removed,  sponges  and  rammers 
laid  on  deck,  buckets  and  tubs  of  water  put 
near  the  big  guns.  Rifles,  cutlasses,  and  re- 

155 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

volvers  are  brought,  and  belts  and  bayonets  are 
strapped  on. 

"  First  Division,  sir,"  says  Mr.  Evans,  touch- 
ing his  cap,  to  let  the  executive  officer  know 
that  the  guns  under  his  command  are  ready. 
The  other  divisions  follow,  and  the  orders  are 
given  to  sponge  and  load.  Meanwhile  the 
lookout  has  reported  the  flag  of  the  rapidly 
approaching  cruiser,  and  she  has  been  identi- 
fied. She  is  prepared  for  action. 

"  Keep  the  port  guns  trained  on  her,  and 
wait  orders,"  says  the  captain. 

"  Three  thousand !  Twenty-eight  hundred," 
calls  the  man  at  the  range-indicator. 

"  Ready  with  the  port  forward  eight." 

"  Aye,  aye,  sir." 

"  Try  him  at  two  thousand  five  hundred." 

"  Raise,  lower,  raise ;  well,  elevator,"  comes 
the  low  tone  of  the  gun  captain.  "  Right 
h-a-a-ndsomely. " 

Boom! 

The  thunderous  shock  of  the  mighty  eight- 
inch,  loaded  with  a  full  charge  and  an  armor- 
piercing  shell,  makes  the  deck  jump.  The  deep- 
toned  report  is  answered  by  another,  and  a 
great  white  cloud  bursts  from  the  port  bow  of 
the  advancing  enemy. 

156 


THE  BRAINS  OF  A  WAR-SHIP 

"  Hard  a-starboard !"  exclaims  the  captain. 
At  the  same  time  he  turns  to  the  executive 
officer,  and  says :  "  To  stay  here  is  mere  folly, 
sir.  We  shall  be  easy  food  for  their  rifle- 
men." 

He  leaves  the  bridge  and  goes  to  the  con- 
ning-tower,  where  the  boatswain  is  already  at 
the  wheel,  and  where  both  commander  and 
petty  officer  are,  ten  minutes  later,  sent  to 
eternity  by  an  eight  -  inch  projectile,  which 
smashes  the  thin  steel  walls  of  the  tower  as  if 
they  were  glass.  The  executive  officer  springs 
to  the  bridge,  and  fights  his  ship  from  that 
historic  point  of  command.  Crash  upon  crash 
smites  the  air.  Shouts  of  officers  follow  faster 
and  faster. 

"  First  riflemen  on  the  starboard  quarter ! 
Firemen  in  the  port  gangway!  Magazine  fire 
there,  riflemen,  and  sweep  her  decks!  Ready 
with  the  bow  torpedo !" 

The  executive  officer  and  the  navigator, 
exposed  to  a  storm  of  fire,  direct  the  move- 
ments of  the  ship  from  the  bridge. 

"  Now's  our  time !  Let  us  ram !  And  give 
her  the  forward  eight  -  inches  at  the  same 
time!" 

A  horrible  crash  follows.  The  din  becomes 
157 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

appalling,  when  suddenly  a  cheer  rings  out 
from  the  quarter-deck,  and  Mr.  Evans's  voice 
cries : 

"  She  has  struck,  sir !" 

The  fight  is  over. 


Ill 
TALES    OF    STRANGE    EVENTS 


THE    FIRST    AMERICAN    BOYS    IN 
JAPAN 

The  Opening  of  an   Ancient  Empire 

JHE  first  American  boys  who  ever 
visited  Japan  were  set  ashore  with 
great  ceremony  near  the  city  of 
Yedo,  or  Tokyo,  on  Thursday,  the 
lith  of  July,  1853.  They  wore  the  uniform 
of  the  United  States  Navy,  and  every  gilt  but- 
ton and  buckle  was  polished  till  it  shone  like 
gold.  They  carried  between  them  a  large, 
square  envelope  of  scarlet  cloth,  containing 
two  beautiful  round  boxes  made  of  gold,  each 
box  inclosed  in  a  larger  box  of  rosewood,  with 
lock,  hinges,  and  mountings  all  made  of  pure 
gold.  Each  of  the  gold  boxes  contained  a  letter 
to  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  beautifully  written 
on  vellum,  and  not  folded,  but  bound  in  blue 
silk  velvet.  To  each  letter  the  great  seal  of 
the  United  States  was  attached  with  cords  of 
161 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

interwoven  gold  and  silk,  with,  pendent  gold 
tassels.  The  names  of  these  boys  are  not  known 
to  the  writer. 

It  would  be  hard  to  tell  when  the  first  Amer- 
ican boy  visited  Europe,  or  Africa,  or  almost 
any  other  country;  but  the  record  of  the  first 
American  boys'  visit  to  Japan  is  kept  by  the 
State  Department  in  Washington.  It  may  be 
found  in  a  curious  old  volume,  full  of  odd 
pictures,  published  by  order  of  Congress  in 
1856,  and  entitled,  "  Narrative  of  the  Expedi- 
tion of  an  American  Squadron  to  the  China 
Seas  and  Japan,  under  the  Command  of  Com- 
modore M.  C.  Perry,  United  States  Navy." 
Japan  at  that  time  refused  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  the  other  nations  of  the  world.  It 
had  a  history  and  a  civilization  of  its  own,  and 
was  content  to  remain  as  it  had  been  for  hun- 
dreds of  years.  The  Chinese  and  the  Dutch 
were  both  allowed  to  do  a  little  trading  at 
several  Japanese  ports,  but  under  very  humili- 
ating restrictions.  They  were  looked  upon  as 
outside  barbarians  by  the  Japanese,  and  had 
to  put  up  with  great  indignities. 

Millard  Eillmore,  who  was  tHen  our  Presi- 
dent, thought  that  it  would  be  well  for  this 
country  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  Japan. 

162 


THE   FIRST  AMERICAN  BOYS  IN  JAPAN 

But  we  could  not  go  into  the  empire  on  our 
knees,  as  the  Dutch  had  done.  That  is  not  the 
American  way  of  doing  things.  We  must  go 
in  by  the  front  door,  if  we  went  at  all,  with 
high  dignitaries  of  the  nation  to  show  us  into 
the  parlor  with  proper  respect.  It  required  a 
man  of  great  firmness  and  sound  sense  to  ne- 
gotiate with  the  Japanese  government,  to  ar- 
range for  our  dealing  with  them  on  a  footing 
of  exact  equality  and  justice.  For  this  delicate 
and  important  service  President  Fillmore  se- 
lected Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry,  and  sent 
him  to  Japan  with  a  fleet  of  four  steam  war- 
ships. Some  of  our  sailors  who  had  been 
wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Japan  had  been  killed 
or  cruelly  treated;  and  Commodore  Perry's 
mission  was  not  only  to  open  Japanese  ports 
to  American  commerce,  but  also  to  arrange  that 
any  'American  citizens  who  went  to  Japan 
should  be  treated  in  a  civilized  and  humane 
way. 

The  letters  that  the  two  boys  carried  ashore 
in  the  golden  boxes  were  from  the  President  of 
the  United  States  to  the  Emperor  of  Japan. 
One  of  them  certified  that  Commodore  Perry 
was  authorized  to  treat  with  the  Japanese  gov- 
ernment. The  other  was  a  kindly  letter  from 
163 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

President  Fillmore  explaining  the  object  of  the 
expedition.  It  is  too  long  to  print  here  entire. 
"Great  and  Good  Friend,"  the  letter  began,  "I 
send  you  this  public  letter  by  Commodore  Mat- 
thew C.  Perry,  an  officer  of  highest  rank  in  the 
Navy  of  the  United  States,  and  commander 
of  the  squadron  now  visiting  your  imperial 
Majesty's  domains.  I  have  directed  Commo- 
dore Perry  to  assure  your  imperial  Majesty 
that  I  entertain  the  kindest  feelings  towards 
your  Majesty's  person  and  government,  and 
that  I  have  no  other  object  in  sending  him  to 
Japan  but  to  propose  to  your  imperial  Majesty 
that  the  United  States  and  Japan  should  live 
in  friendship,  and  have  commercial  intercourse 
with  each  other."  The  letter  concludes,  "  May 
the  Almighty  have  your  imperial  Majesty  in 
His  great  and  holy  keeping.  Your  good  friend, 
Millard  Fillmore." 

The  reception  of  Commodore  Perry  by  two 
of  the  imperial  Princes,  and  his  landing  near 
Yedo,  on  the  14th  of  July,  accompanied  by  the 
two  boys  and  about  three  hundred  officers  and 
sailors,  were  brought  about  only  after  months 
of  negotiation.  Many  a  quiet  laugh  the  Com- 
modore must  have  enjoyed  when  he  thought  of 

the  intense  dignity  he  was  forced  to  assume. 
164 


THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  BOYS  IN  JAPAN 

If  ho  had  not  appeared  before  the  Japanese  as 
a  person  of  great  importance  and  power,  they 
would  have  had  little  respect  for  him  or  his 
government.  He  took  pains  to  tell  them  that 
he  represented  the  great  and  powerful  nation 
of  the  West,  that  his  four  ships  were  only  a 
small  and  insignificant  part  of  the  American 
navy,  and  that  more  ships  were  coming.  When 
he  first  anchored  in  Yedo  harbor  no  native 
boats  were  allowed  to  approach  the  flag-ship, 
the  Susquelianna.  When  the  Governor  of  the 
province  went  out  in  great  pomp  to  pay  his 
respects  he  was  received  by  one  of  the  captains ; 
the  Commodore  himself  could  not  be  seen;  the 
Commodore's  business  was  with  a  direct  repre- 
sentative of  the  Emperor,  and  he  could  not 
lower  his  dignity  by  giving  an  audience  to  a 
mere  Governor. 

He  sent  copies  of  his  letters  to  the  Emperor 
by  one  of  the  high  officers  of  the  empire,  but 
the  originals  he  would  deliver  only  to  some 
member  of  the  royal  family.  The  Emperor 
offered  to  send  two  Princes  to  receive  the  let- 
ters at  Nagasaki,  but  this  would  not  do;  the 
Commodore  would  not  go  to  the  Princes,  the 
Princes  must  come  to  him,  and  receive  the  let- 
ters where  his  ships  lay.  By  skilful  and  digni- 
165 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

fied  management  he  carried  all  his  points;  not 
only  did  the  Princes  come  to  him,  but  he  nego- 
tiated the  treaty  under  which  Japan  and  the 
United  States  remain  firm  friends  to  this  day. 

So  great  a  man  did  Commodore  Perry  be- 
come in  the  eyes  of  the  Japanese  that  they  did 
everything  in  their  power  to  please  him.  A 
building  was  erected  a  mile  from  the  shore  for 
the  Princes  to  receive  him  in.  The  Governor 
of  the  province  apologized  to  the  captains  be- 
cause he  could  not  supply  an  arm-chair  for  the 
Commodore  to  sit  in  as  he  used  in  his  ship ; 
but  there  were  none  in  the  country.  He  was 
told  that  whatever  sort  of  chair  the  Princes 
used  would  be  satisfactory  to  the  Commodore. 
Then  the  ships  were  moved  up  close  to  the 
shore.  When  the  Governor  protested  against 
this,  he  was  told  that  it  was  because  a  man  of 
the  Commodore's  importance  could  not  proper- 
ly travel  a  long  distance  in  a  small  boat;  but 
the  real  reason  for  it  was  that  as  ten  thousand 
Japanese  troops  would  be  present,  and  only  three 
hundred  men  could  be  spared  from  the  ships, 
it  was  feared  that  the  whole  American  party 
might  be  massacred.  We  know  now  that  the 
Japanese  would  not  be  guilty  of  such  treachery, 

but  we  did  not  know  them  as  well  then.    Before 
166 


THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  BOYS   IN  JAPAN 

the  Commodore  landed  all  the  decks  were  clear- 
ed for  action,  howitzers  were  mounted  in  small 
boats,  and  every  preparation  was  made  to  pro- 
tect the  landing  party  if  they  should  be  at- 
tacked. 

The  three  hundred  sailors  and  officers  landed 
first,  and  forming  in  two  lines,  made  an  open 
lane  for  the  Commodore  to  pass  through.  Then 
came  the  two  boys,  selected  for  their  fine  ap- 
pearance and  manly  bearing,  and  guarded  by 
two  immense  colored  men  armed  to  the  teeth. 
The  audience  with  the  Princes  occupied  only 
about  twenty  minutes,  and  few  words  were 
spoken,  though  many  dignified  bows  were 
made.  At  a  signal  from  the  Commodore  the 
two  boys  stepped  forward  and  delivered  their 
gold  boxes  to  the  officer  appointed  by  the  Princes 
to  receive  them,  who  had  a  handsome  scarlet 
box  ready  for  the  reception  of  the  important 
documents. 

This  was  one  of  the  first  steps  in  the  nego- 
tiation of  a  treaty  which  opened  relations  be- 
tween this  country  and  Japan — the  wonderful 
country  which  a  little  over  half  a  century  after- 
wards defeated  Russia  and  vindicated  her  title 
to  a  place  among  the  great  nations. 


THE    TALE    OF    AN    EARTHQUAKE 

And  the  Strange  "Journey  of  the  "  Wateree  " 


afternoon  during  the  trip  from 
Zanzibar  to  the  Comero  Islands  our 
friend  Tom  Fairweather  and  Lieu- 
tenant Jollytarre  were  sitting  on 
the  poop  -deck  of  the  Neptune,  when  the  con- 
versation turned  upon  earthquakes. 

"  Where  do  earthquakes  mostly  occur,  Mr. 
Jollytarre?"  asked  Tom. 

"  Well,  there  are  several  spots  in  the  world 
where  the  people  are  generally  on  the  lookout 
for  a  shaking  up.  All  volcanic  countries  are 
subject  to  earthquakes,  and  there  are  many 
places  far  distant  from  any  active  volcanoes 
that  are  visited  in  this  way  at  times.  There 
have  been  many  disastrous  shocks  in  Europe 
—  for  instance,  in  Switzerland,  Portugal,  and 
Italy;  in  Japan,  the  west  coast  of  North  and 
South  America,  and  in  the  countries  bordering 

168 


THE  TALE  OF  AN   EARTHQUAKE 

on  the  Caribbean  Sea.  We  have  had  them  in 
our  own  country,  not  only  in  California,  but  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley  and  in  New  England. 
They  occur  in  Iceland  and  in  India,  and,  in 
fact,  I  suspect  there  are  few  countries  wholly 
free  from  them. 

"  I  think,"  he  continued,  after  a  pause,  "  I 
have  never  told  you  of  an  experience  I  once  had 
in  an  earthquake.  You  have  heard  your  father 
speak  of  vessels  called  double  -  enders,  on  ac- 
count of  their  having  a  rudder  at  both  ends. 
One  of  them,  named  the  Wateree,  was  wrecked 
at  Arica,  Peru,  in  1868,  and  her  bones  are  still 
lying  there  on  the  beach.  In  August  of  that 
year  there  was  a  terrible  earthquake,  accom- 
panied by  a  tidal  wave,  on  that  coast,  which 
laid  the  town  of  Arica  in  ruins,  and  wrecked 
every  ship  in  port.  It  happened  that  I  was  on 
board  the  Watcree.  I  never  told  you  about 
that,  did  I  ?" 

"  Why,  no,"  said  Tom,  drawing  his  chair 
nearer,  "  you  certainly  never  did." 

"  Well,"  replied  Jollytarre,  "  if  you  want  to 
hear  it  I'll  light  another  cigar,  and  tell  you 
something  about  the  most  fearful  night  I  ever 
knew. 

"  We  had  been  lying  in  the   roadstead  of 
»  169 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

Arica  for  several  months.  Besides  our  ships 
there  were  the  United  States  store-ship  Fre- 
donia,  the  Peruvian  corvette  America,  an  Eng- 
lish bark,  and  two  hrigs.  We  had  often  felt 
slight  shocks  of  earthquake  when  on  shore,  and 
had  remarked  upon  the  apparent  timidity  of 
the  natives,  who  always  rushed  frightened  and 
panic-stricken  to  the  open  plazas,  lest  the  build- 
ings should  come  tumbling  about  their  ears. 

"  Late  in  the  afternoon  of  August  13,  while 
we  were  at  dinner  on  board,  we  felt  the  ship 
tremble  under  us,  and  immediately  afterwards 
word  was  sent  from  the  deck  that  a  heavy  shock 
of  earthquake  had  occurred.  We  all  went  up 
on  deck,  and  there  we  could  see  the  open  spaces 
filled  with  excited  inhabitants,  and  the  hills  to 
the  southward  dotted  with  frightened  men  and 
women.  A  little  range  of  hills  ran  back  of  the 
town,  and  ended  abruptly  in  a  cliff  several  hun- 
dred feet  high  just  at  the  water's  edge. 

"  We  were  still  talking,  when  a  second  and 
much  more  severe  shock  shook  the  ship  from 
stem  to  stern.  We  could  see  several  houses 
toppling,  and  then  with  a  horrible  thud  the  face 
of  this  cliff  fell  in  one  huge  mass.  As  the 
dust-cloud  slowly  drifted  by,  and  showed  us 

Arica  once  more,  the  sight  was  something  none 
170 


THE  TALE  OF  AN  EARTHQUAKE 

of  us  can  ever  forget.  There  was  but  one  house 
left  standing.  We  looked  at  each  other,  and 
for  a  moment  were  speechless;  then  realizing 
that  there  must  be  urgent  need  of  assistance 
where  so  many  were  undoubtedly  injured,  a 
boat  was  called  away,  and  our  surgeon  de- 
spatched to  render  what  aid  he  might. 

"  Up  to  this  time  there  appeared  to  be  no 
disturbance  of  the  sea;  but  as  we  well  knew 
that  earthquakes  of  such  tremendous  power 
were  generally  accompanied  by  tidal  waves,  we 
made  such  preparations  as  we  could  to  with- 
stand a  possible  rush  of  the  sea.  We  could  not 
steam  away,  for  our  boilers  were  undergoing 
extensive  repairs,  but  we  dropped  another  an- 
chor, veered  to  a  long  scope  on  both  cables,  and 
were  ready  to  batten  down  hatches  at  a  mo- 
ment's warning.  The  other  vessels  appeared 
to  be  doing  the  same  thing,  as  though  those  on 
board  felt  as  we  did  —  that  there  might  be 
trouble  in  store  for  us  that  night. 

"  Shortly  the  ships  began  to  swing  as  to  a 
changing  tide,  and  the  small  boats  close  in- 
shore being  left  high  and  dry,  showed  us  that 
the  water  was  receding.  In  a  few  minutes  the 
vessels  again  swung,  the  water  came  back,  float- 
ed the  little  boats  as  it  reached  them,  and 
171 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

flowed  well  up  into  the  town.  From  the  beach 
there  ran  into  the  water  a  long  pier,  to  which 
many  people  had  flocked  to  escape  from  the 
falling  buildings;  when  they  saw  the  water 
rising  so  rapidly  they  turned  and  fled  back  to 
the  hills,  crying,  in  an  agonized  way,  '  The  sea, 
the  sea !' 

"  At  the  beginning  of  this  water  disturbance 
the  surface  was  for  some  time  quite  unruffled. 
You  would  have  thought  that  there  was  a  huge 
You  would  have  thought  that  there  was  a 
huge  pipe  underneath  that  successively  fed  and 
water  flowed  in  and  out,  its  strength  increased. 
It  reached  farther  into  the  town,  filling  the 
streets,  and  then  flowing  back,  left  a  long 
stretch  of  beach  completely  uncovered.  At  last 
it  receded  so  far  as  to  leave  no  water  under  one 
of  the  brigs  I  told  you  was  anchored  there,  and 
the  little  vessel  quietly  fell  over  on  her  beam 
ends,  while  her  crew  scampered  to  the  shore 
before  the  returning  sea  could  overtake  them. 

"  It  was  now  growing  dark,  and  we  were 
called  upon  to  give  our  whole  attention  to  the 
ship.  We  paid  out  all  the  cable  we  had,  bat- 
tened down  the  hatches  with  tarpaulins,  made 
our  battery  and  everything  about  our  decks  as 

secure  as  possible,  and  then  awaited  anxiously 
172 


THE  TALE  OF   AN   EARTHQUAKE 

the  development  of  the  tidal  wave.  Constant 
shocks  of  earthquake  were  now  felt  coming  rap- 
idly, one  after  another,  but  our  eyes  were  fixed 
on  the  sea. 

"  The  English  bark  was  anchored  near  us. 
We  were  both  swinging  wildly  about  to  the 
changing  currents,  which  ran  at  the  rate  of  at 
least  ten  miles  an  hour.  Suddenly  we  saw  a 
stream  of  fire  shoot  from  the  Englishman's 
hawse-hole.  The  cable  fastenings  had  given 
way,  and  so  great  was  the  friction  that  the  fly- 
ing sparks  made  a  brilliant  and  terrible  dis- 
play. Almost  immediately  one  of  our  own 
chains  was  carried  away ;  it  tore  along  over  the 
deck  and  into  the  sea,  resembling  in  its  move- 
ments a  very  serpent  of  fire.  Our  other  chain 
held,  but  so  strong  had  the  rush  of  water  be- 
come that  we  dragged  the  one  anchor  left  and 
its  hundred  fathoms  of  cable  as  though  it  was 
never  intended  to  hold  us  in  any  one  spot. 

"  Both  vessels  were  adrift,  at  the  mercy  of 
the  currents  and  counter  -  currents  that  were 
displaying  such  gigantic  power.  At  one  time 
we  flew  past  each  other  so  closely  that  one  could 
have  tossed  a  biscuit  from  one  deck  to  the  other. 
If  we  had  collided  we  must  have  sunk  then  and 

there.     We  were  driven  seaward,  only  to  be 
173 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

torn  back  towards  the  shore.  In  and  out,  hither 
and  thither,  we  were  carried,  until  finally  we 
struck  broadside  on  with  a  terrible  thump.  The 
sea  swept  over  us,  and  inland  far  beyond,  then 
out  again,  leaving  us  stranded  but  upright,  for 
the  Wateree  was  a  flat  -  bottomed  boat,  and 
stood  up  like  a  house. 

"  You  can  imagine  our  uncertainty  and 
anxiety.  No  one  had  been  washed  overboard, 
but  we  felt  that  the  worst  had  not  yet  come. 
We  knew  that  the  wave  would  return.  It  came 
onward.  Spellbound  by  the  awful  sight,  we 
watched  the  outline  of  its  advancing  crest  come 
through  the  darkness  of  the  night,  and  dared 
not  hope  for  escape.  It  struck  us,  whirled  us 
around,  tossed  us  about,  deluged  us  with  water, 
and  leaped  madly  on.  As  it  took  its  way  back 
to  the  sea  we  were  carried  with  it,  the  sport 
of  its  fury.  Where  we  went,  and  how  far,  it 
is  impossible  to  say.  We  were  passive,  because 
we  were  helpless.  Back  it  came,  and  once  more 
we  were  thrown  upon  the  shore,  this  time  with 
our  bows  pointing  fairly  to  the  sea. 

"  With  the  force  of  a  thousand  giants  it 
struck  us,  dashed  by,  and  then  rolled  sullenly 
back ;  but  we — we  remained,  and  we  wondered 

if  the  worst  was  now  over.     Again  and  again 
174 


THE  TALE  OF  AN  EARTHQUAKE 

the  wave  rushed  in  and  out,  but  still  we  clung 
to  the  sand  under  us. 

"  Before  we  struck,  while  we  were  cruising 
about  at  the  mercy  of  the  currents,  masses  of 
earth  like  little  floating  islands  were  carried  past 
us,  and  drowning  people  clinging  to  pieces  of 
wreck  cried  loudly  for  help,  which  we  were 
unable  to  give  them.  We  tried,  indeed,  to 
reach  them  with  boats,  but  no  crew  could  make 
headway  against  such  currents.  We  were  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  poor  fellows  to  their  fate. 

"  All  through  that  night  we  remained  on 
board.  The  hours  dragged  slowly  by  as  we 
waited  for  daylight.  When  at  last  we  could 
distinguish  objects  in  the  dawning  day,  we 
saw  the  America  not  far  from  us,  with  her 
masts  gone,  and  presenting  a  generally  wrecked 
appearance.  The  English  bark,  however,  or 
what  was  left  of  her,  gave  the  most  striking 
proof  of  the  mighty  force  of  that  great  tidal 
wave.  She  was  a  strongly  built,  copper-fast- 
ened vessel,  but  she  lay  on  her  beam  ends  with- 
out a  mast,  with  her  very  decks  torn  out,  and 
her  great  water-tanks  from  the  hold  lying  a 
hundred  yards  away. 

"  Of  the  other  brig  not  a  vestige  was  to  be 

seen,  and  of  the  Fredonia  nothing  but  a  piece 
175 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

of  her  wheel,  with  two  men  clinging  to  it.  How 
they  ever  found  strength  to  survive  that  terri- 
ble night  is  a  question  neither  we  nor  they 
could  ever  answer.  Of  all  the  men  cast  into 
the  sea  they  were  the  only  ones  saved. 

"  We  looked  up  the  beach  towards  Arica ; 
there  was  nothing  but  one  vast,  confused  ruin. 
A  large  custom-house,  filled  with  goods,  had 
yielded  up  its  stores  to  the  sport  of  the  waves. 
The  beach  was  strewn  with  boxes,  barrels,  bales, 
and  crates.  Machinery,  clothing,  provisions, 
liquors,  cigars — everything  that  the  stores  of 
civilization  supply  were  to  be  found  there;  as 
some  one  put  it,  everything  from  a  piano  to  a 
tooth-pick. 

"  The  dead  were  half  covered  by  the  sand 

washed  over  them.     The  living  were  distract- 

° 

edly  seeking  their  separated  families.  All  was 
misery  and  despair.  Their  houses  were  swept 
away ;  the  very  traces  of  the  streets  were  wash- 
ed away.  There  was  nothing  to  eat  save  what 
the  wreckage  on  the  shore  afforded,  but  that 
included  food  and  wines,  and  liquors,  too,  in 
abundance.  For  several  days  the  lowest  na- 
tives would  touch  nothing  but  champagne. 
After  that  was  exhausted  they  turned  to  the 

more  fiery  liquids,  and  the  result  was  riot  and 
176 


THE  TALE  OF   AN   EARTHQUAKE 

lawlessness — a  state  of  affairs  ended  only  by 
the  arrival  of  troops  from  the  town  of  Tacna, 
forty  miles  in  the  interior. 

"  The  people  of  Arica,  who  the  day  before 
were  unconscious  of  danger,  and  had  every  com- 
fort, were  now  houseless  and  helpless.  Their 
possessions  had  been  taken  from  them;  they 
mourned  the  loss  of  many  friends  and  rela- 
tives. 

"  Among  the  endless  variety  of  things  found 
on  the  beach  were  huge  maps  of  Bolivia,  which, 
fastened  to  uprights,  were  made  to  serve  as 
walls  of  paper  houses.  To  be  sure,  there  was 
no  roof,  but  some  protection  was  given,  and 
anything  that  gave  the  least  shelter  was  ac- 
ceptable then,  even  if  it  did  nod  and  tremble 
with  every  shock  of  earthquake.  For  some 
time  we  had  fifty  or  sixty  shocks  a  day;  we 
grew  accustomed  to  them  as  we  waited  anx- 
iously for  the  arrival  of  a  man-of-war  to  take 
us  away.  The  earth  felt  very  thin  about  there, 
Tom.  There  were  great  cracks  and  fissures  in 
the  ground,  and  occasionally  an  embankment 
would  be  shaken  down  to  add  to  the  variety  of 
our  experience.  We  had  to  bring  water  from  a 
brook  a  mile  away.  We  captured  horses  and 
mules  to  carry  it,  and  when  we  were  not  using 
177 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE   SAM'S  SAILORS 

them,  tied  them  to  our  swinging  booms  and 
rudder. 

"  I  can't  tell  you  now  all  the  incidents  that 
occurred  during  the  two  weeks  we  remained 
there.  One  morning  we  awoke  to  find  three  of 
our  squadron  anchored  off  the  port.  You  may 
know  it  was  a  welcome  sight.  We  were  dis- 
tributed among  these  vessels,  glad  to  leave  the 
scene  of  such  an  awful  disaster.  It  was  a 
wonderful  experience  to  have  had,  but  hardly 
one  to  be  repeated." 


THE    WRECK    OF    THE   WAR-SHIPS 
AT    SAMOA 

A  Story  of  Heroism  and  Tragedy 

|HIS  is  the  story  of  the  great  hurri- 
cane at  Samoa,  which  sent  Amer- 
ican and  German  war  -  ships  to 
destruction  in  March,  1889.  With 
steam  up  and  anchors  out,  with  the  full  power 
of  their  great  engines  turned  against  the  storm, 
they  were  only  playthings  in  its  grasp.  The 
tempest  overwhelmed  them  at  its  leisure,  and 
tossed  them  like  cockle-shells  at  last  upon  the 
rocks  and  sands.  Six  war-ships  and  ten  trad- 
ing-vessels were  wrecked,  and  142  men  of  the 
American  and  German  navies  were  drowned. 

The  Samoan  Islands,  which  were  swept  by 
this  great  storm,  lie  in  the  South  Pacific  Ocean, 
half-way  round  the  world  from  us.  Germany 
and  the  United  States  fell  into  a  dispute  con- 
cerning their  respective  rights  in  the  islands, 
179 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

and  each  country  sent  three  men-of-war  thither 
as  a  precaution  and  an  evidence  of  power. 
These  war-ships  lay  in  the  harbor  of  Apia,  a 
little  city  on  the  north  side  of  TJpalu,  one  of 
the  islands  of  the  Samoan  group,  a  place  natur- 
ally very  beautiful. 

On  Friday,  March  15,  1889,  seven  steam 
war-ships  and  ten  sailing-vessels  lay  at  anchor 
off  Apia,  crowding  the  little  harbor.  The  war- 
ships were  the  American  Trenton,  Vandalia, 
and  Nipsicj  the  German  Eber,  Adler,  and 
Olga;  and  the  British  Calliope.  There  had 
been  signs  of  a  coming  storm  for  several  days. 
The  weather  was  cloudy,  and  the  barometer  fell 
steadily.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  15th  the 
wind  rose.  By  eleven  o'clock  that  night  it  had 
grown  to  be  a  gale.  All  the  war-ships  had  their 
engines  working,  and  were  pushing  into  the 
wind  to  ease  the  strain  upon  their  anchors. 
At  three  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Saturday, 
the  16th,  a  hurricane  was  roaring  about  the 
Samoan  Islands.  It  blew  down  trees,  and  car- 
ried off  the  roofs  of  houses.  It  caught  up  the 
sand  and  showered  it  down  again  like  hail. 
The  night  was  pitch-black.  The  rain  swept 
down  in  sheets.  There  was  an  incoming  tide, 

and  the  sea  ran  up  on  the  shore  a  hundred  feet 
180 


THE  WRECK  OF  THE  WAR-SHIPS  AT  SAMOA 

beyond  its  usual  mark,  washing  the  streets  and 
throwing  its  spray  against  the  houses. 

Daybreak  came  shortly  after  five  o'clock,  and 
the  war -ships  were  revealed.  What  the  ob- 
servers on  shore  had  feared  was  true.  The 
ships  had  changed  their  positions.  The  hurri- 
cane was  sweeping  in  from  the  northeast,  and 
slowly  forcing  them  in  the  direction  of  the  reef 
within  the  bay.  They  were  yielding  inch  by 
inch,  in  spite  of  anchors  and  steam.  Black 
streamers  of  smoke,  blowing  from  their  funnels, 
showed  how  powerfully  the  engines  were  at 
work  pushing  them  into  the  wind.  Their  decks 
were  swarming  with  men,  who  were  holding  on 
for  their  lives.  The  vessels  were  so  tossed  about 
that  it  seemed  as  though  they  must  break  and 
founder.  Every  now  and  then  they  would  shoot 
out  of  the  water,  so  that  their  rudders  and 
rapidly  revolving  propellers  were  in  plain  sight. 

Close  together,  and  only  a  few  yards  off  the 
reef,  rode  the  Eber,  the  Adler,  and  the  Nipsic. 
They  were  all  far  along  on  the  road  to  destruc- 
tion. The  little  Eber  was  the  first  to  make  the 
plunge.  She  went  unwillingly,  fighting  to  the 
last.  A  great  burst  of  smoke  from  her  funnel 
was  followed  by  a  tremor  and  a  leap  forward, 

but  in  a  moment  she  swerved  and  struck  the 
181 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

Nipsic  on  the  port  quarter,  carrying  off  a  por- 
tion of  the  American's  rail  and  one  of  her  boats, 
then  fell  back  and  struck  the  Olga.  The  two 
collisions  were  fatal.  Her  headway  was  check- 
ed, and  she  swung  round  and  went  upon  the 
reef  broadside  to.  A  wave  lifted  her  and 
dropped  her  upon  the  coral  spears,  and  she 
slipped  out  of  sight.  Little  was  left  of  her 
after  the  storm  was  over.  Six  officers  and  sev- 
enty-one men  were  on  board  the  Eber  when  she 
struck,  and  of  these  all  but  one  officer  and  four 
men  perished  with  the  ship. 

The  Adler  followed  the  Eber.  She  went 
upon  the  reef  broadside  to,  as  her  consort  had 
done,  but  struck  well  up,  and  turned  over  on 
her  side,  with  her  deck  toward  the  shore.  She 
carried  130  officers  and  men.  Twenty  of  the 
men  were  lost  as  the  ship  capsized;  the  rest 
found  a  safe  shelter  under  the  lee  of  the  wreck. 

Then  came  the  smallest  of  the  American 
ships,  the  Nipsic.  Under  a  full  head  of  steam 
she  tried  to  run  away  from  the  reef.  One  of 
the  trading-vessels  in  the  harbor,  the  schooner 
Lilly,  got  in  her  track,  and  the  Nipsic  cut  her 
down,  sending  her  to  the  bottom  instantly. 
After  sinking  the  Lilly  the  Nipsic  worked  her- 
self well  off  the  reef,  and  was  about  throwing 
182 


THE  WRECK  OF  THE  WAR-SHIPS  AT  SAMOA 

overboard  one  of  her  heavy  guns,  with  a  hawser 
attached,  to  assist  her  anchors,  when  the  Olga 
and  she  came  in  collision.  The  German  struck 
the  American  amidships,  carrying  away  a  boat 
of  the  American,  and  also  her  smokestack.  The 
loss  of  the  smokestack  decided  the  fate  of  the 
Nipsic.  She  was  unable  to  keep  up  steam,  and 
Captain  Mullan,  her  commander,  determined  to 
beach  her.  This  he  accomplished  successfully, 
running  her  upon  the  sand  just  opposite  the 
American  Consulate.  When  she  was  fast  her 
bow  was  only  fifteen  yards  from  the  water's 
edge.  Several  lives  were  lost  by  the  overturn- 
ing of  a  boat  at  the  davits,  and  two  sailors  who 
jumped  overboard  were  drowned;  but  after- 
wards a  hawser  was  run  aboard  from  the 
shore,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  Nipsic's  crew 
got  safely  off.  Captain  Mullan  and  Lieuten- 
ant John  A.  Sherman  were  the  last  to  leave 
the  ship. 

At  ten  o'clock  the  Vandalia  and  Calliope  had 
drifted  into  a  position  near  the  reef.  The  storm 
had  not  abated  in  the  least.  The  British  ship 
was  just  astern  of  the  Vandalia,  and  danger- 
ously close.  Suddenly  her  sharp  prow  was 
swung  far  up  by  a  huge  wave,  and,  descending, 

struck  the  port  quarter  of  the  American  with 
183 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

terrible  force.  Men  standing  on  the  poop-deck 
of  the  Vandalia  were  thrown  from  their  feet 
by  the  shock.  A  hole  was  torn  in  the  side  of 
the  American  ship,  and  the  water  rushed  into 
the  cabin.  The  jibboom  of  the  Englishman 
was  carried  away.  Unless  something  was  done 
the  ships  would  strike  again,  and  the  conse- 
quences might  be  still  more  disastrous.  Some- 
thing was  done.  Her  Majesty's  ship  Calliope 
then  and  there  entered  upon  the  performance 
of  a  feat  the  news  of  which  a  little  later  filled 
the  world  with  astonishment  and  admiration. 
She  slipped  her  anchors,  and  set  to  work  to  run 
out  of  Apia  Harbor.  It  must  have  been  a  mo- 
ment of  tremendous  uncertainty  when  those 
anchors  were  let  go.  She  was  a  new  vessel,  and 
a  powerful  one,  capable  of  running  sixteen 
knots  an  hour  in  smooth  water.  In  this  tem- 
pestuous sea,  and  against  this  hurricane,  how 
would  she  get  on?  Would  she  get  on  at  all, 
or  would  the  hurricane  overpower  her  and  send 
her  back  to  the  fate  upon  which  the  Eber  and 
the  Adler  and  the  Nipsic  drifted?  Captain 
Henry  C.  Kane,  her  commander,  kept  her  bow 
in  line  with  the  broad  lettering  upon  the  stern 
of  the  American  flag-ship  Trenion,  and  steam 

was  crowded  on.     Larger  grew  the  Trenton's 

184 


THE  WRECK  OF  THE  WAR-SHIPS  AT  SAMOA 

lettering,  and  still  larger,  and  beyond  doubt 
the  Calliope  was  gaining.  Presently  she  passed 
abreast  of  the  Trenton,  and  first  a  shout  and 
then  three  cheers  came  across  the  water  from 
the  American  ship.  Three  cheers  went  back 
again  from  the  Englishman,  and  the  Calliope 
passed  through  the  channel  in  the  outer  reef 
and  out  to  sea,  where  she  rode  out  the  storm 
unharmed. 

While  the  Calliope  was  steaming  to  safety 
in  one  direction  the  Vandalia  was  drifting  to 
destruction  in  another.  In  order  to  save  her- 
self from  the  reef  she  finally  slipped  her  an- 
chor-chains and  made  for  the  beach  upon  which 
the  Nipsic  had  been  driven.  She  put  on  more 
steam  than  she  had  ever  dared  to  carry  before, 
ran  a  quarter  of  a  mile  along  the  reef,  and 
went  ashore  in  the  sand.  But  being  a  vessel  of 
much  greater  draught  than  the  Nipsic,  she 
struck  much  farther  out,  coming  to  a  stop  with 
her  bow  about  forty  yards  from  the  Nipsic  s 
stern.  She  swung  around  broadside  to  the 
shore,  and  settled  so  deep  that  the  waves  swept 
her  decks  with  terrible  force.  Men  were  thrown 
from  their  feet  and  dashed  against  the  bul- 
warks. Not  a  few  were  washed  overboard. 

The  ship  continued  to  settle,  and  many  of  the 
*3  185 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

sailors  and  some  of  the  officers  took  to  the  rig- 
ging- 

During  the  afternoon  the  storm  increased  in 
violence.  One  man  after  another  went  over- 
board from  the  poop-deck  of  the  Vandalia.  One 
of  these  was  Chief  Engineer  A.  S.  Greene, 
He  had  on  a  life-preserver.  He  was  washed 
into  the  sea,  grasped  a  rope  as  he  fell,  and  drew 
himself  back.  A  second  time  a  wave  swept  him 
away,  and  a  second  time  he  caught  a  rope  and 
clambered  back.  A  third  time  he  was  carried 
far  away  from  the  Vandalia,  and  he  swam  to 
the  Nipsic  and  caught  a  rope.  He  was  too 
weak  to  draw  himself  up  on  it.  He  held  on  for 
a  few  minutes,  and  then  let  go  in  sheer  exhaus- 
tion. The  current  caught  him,  and  he  was 
swept  along  the  shore.  The  natives  saw  him.  A 
line  of  the  clasped  hands,  one  end  of  the  line 
ventured  far  out  into  the  current,  and  the  man 
farthest  out  caught  the  drowning  officer  and 
brought  him  safely  in.  ^Naval  Cadet  H.  A. 
Wiley  was  another  who  got  into  the  current 
and  was  snatched  from  death  by  the  venture- 
some Samoans. 

Captain  Schoonmaker  and  Lieutenant  J.  W. 
Carlin  were  two  brave  men,  who  clung  for  life 

to  the  railings  of  the  Vandalia's  poop -deck. 
186 


THE  WRECK  OF  THE  WAR-SHIPS  AT  SAMOA 

Captain  Schoonmaker  had  been  incapacitated 
by  an  acident  the  night  before.  A  violent  lurch 
of  the  vessel  had  flung  him  across  the  cabin. 
His  head  struck  a  chair  with  such  force  that 
one  ear  was  almost  torn  away.  He  had  been 
ever  since  in  a  dazed  and  weakened  condition, 
and  Lieutenant  Carlin  had  practically  com- 
manded the  ship. 

Soon  after  Greene  and  Wiley  went  overboard 
it  became  evident  that  Captain  Schoonmaker 
could  not  endure  much  longer.  Several  times 
he  said  to  Lieutenant  Carlin  and  the  others 
about  him  that  he  would  have  to  go  soon. 
Lieutenant  Carlin  tried  to  get  him  into  the 
rigging,  where  he  would  escape  the  incessant 
sweep  of  the  water,  but  the  captain  said  he 
was  too  weak  to  climb,  and  would  stay  as  long 
as  he  could  where  he  was.  He  was  without  a 
life-preserver,  and  repeatedly  refused  to  accept 
one.  The  end  was  not  long  delayed.  A  huge 
wave  came  over  the  port  quarter  of  the  Van- 
dalia  and  flooded  the  poop  -  deck.  It  tore  a 
machine-gun  from  its  fastenings,  and  hurled  it 
against  Captain  Schoonmaker.  The  gun  struck 
the  captain  on  the  head  and  knocked  him  sense- 
less. Perhaps  it  killed  him  outright.  He  was 
washed  from  the  deck,  and  was  never  seen  again. 
187 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

A  sailor-boy  named  Oscar  Brinkman,  belong- 
ing to  the  crew  of  the  Vandalia,  was  among 
those  who  performed  notable  acts  of  heroism. 
Being  thrown  overboard  by  a  lurch  of  the  ship, 
he  seized  a  floating  plank  and  clung  to  it.  See- 
ing one  of  his  companions  struggling  in  the 
water,  he  swam  to  him,  and  taking  him  by  the 
hair  brought  him  to  the  plank,  to  which  both 
clung  until  a  big  wave  washed  them  to  the 
beach.  Although  nearly  exhausted,  Brinkman 
determined  to  do  what  he  could  for  those  on 
board  the  Trenton,  which  seemed  about  to  go 
to  pieces.  He  persuaded  three  of  the  natives  to 
accompany  him  in  a  boat,  and  with  a  rope  es- 
tablish a  line  between  the  shore  and  the  ship. 
They  had  only  gone  a  little  way  when  the  boat 
was  upset  by  a  big  wave  and  all  were  strug- 
gling in  the  water.  But  the  boat  righted  itself, 
and  they  succeeded  in  reaching  the  ship  with 
their  rope,  and  saved  many  lives. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  Trenton 
and  the  01  ga  were  almost  on  the  reef.  A  piece 
of  wreckage  had  carried  away  the  rudder  and 
propeller  of  the  Trenton  at  ten  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  and  since  then  her  anchors  and  the 
great  skill  of  her  officers  had  been  her  only  de- 
pendence. The  force  of  the  blow  which  car- 

188 


THE  WRECK  OF  THE  WAR-SHIPS  AT  SAMOA 

ried  away  rudder  and  propeller  was  so  great 
that  every  spoke  in  the  pilot-wheel  was  broken 
out  as  it  was  whirled  about,  and  two  men  who 
stood  at  the  wheel  were  thrown  to  the  deck,  one 
of  them  with  such  violence  that  his  leg  was 
broken.  Much  of  the  credit  for  the  skilful 
management  of  the  Trenton  was  given  to  her 
navigating  officer,  Lieutenant  R.  M.  G.  Brown, 
of  whom  Captain  Farquhar  declared,  in  an 
official  report  to  Admiral  Kimberley,  that  he 
had  on  one  occasion  at  least  kept  the  Trenton 
off  the  rocks  and  saved  the  lives  of  her  450 
men.  Admiral  Kimberley,  Captain  Farquhar, 
and  Lieutenant  Brown  kept  the  bridge  of  the 
Trenton  during  the  day.  When  the  propeller 
was  lost,  the  mizzen  storm-sail  was  set,  and  when 
in  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  she  was  drifting 
toward  the  reef,  broadside  on,  Lieutenant 
Brown  ordered  the  entire  crew  into  the  port 
rigging,  where  they  acted  as  sails  and  at  the 
same  time  ballasted  the  ship  against  the  storm. 
It  was  after  this  that  the  Trenton  and  the 
Olga  drew  dangerously  near  to  the  reef  and  to 
each  other.  Suddenly  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
flew  out  from  the  Trenton's  gaff — the  only  flag 
seen  in  Apia  Harbor  on  that  awful  day.  But 

the  flag  couldn't  keep  off  the  Olga.     The  Ger- 
189 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

man  struck  the  American  on  the  starboard 
quarter,  shivering  it,  and  carrying  off  her  own 
bowsprit  and  figurehead.  Several  of  the  Tren- 
ton's boats  were  also  carried  away,  and  her 
flag  fell  upon  the  deck  of  the  Olga.  After  the 
collision  the  Olga  steamed  across  the  harbor, 
and  buried  herself  in  the  mud  shoal  on  the  east 
side,  where  she  safely  outlasted  the  storm, 
while  the  Trenton  drifted  down  upon  the  Van- 
dalia  just  as  night  fell. 

Everybody  feared  that  the  worst  would  hap- 
pen if  the  Trenton  should  collide  with  the  Van- 
dalia  —  it  was  believed  that  the  shock  would 
throw  the  exhausted  men  clinging  to  the  Van- 
dalia's  rigging  into  the  sea.  The  night  was  dark 
as  pitch.  The  tempest  was  unabated.  The 
shore  was  lined  with  people,  straining  their  eyes 
towards  the  spot  where  the  two  war-ships  had 
been  swallowed  up  in  the  night.  Suddenly  a 
cheer  rang  out  from  the  sea.  It  was  the  Tren- 
ton cheering  the  Vandalia.  Four  hundred  and 
fifty-voices  went  to  make  that  cheer,  but  it  seem- 
ed very  faint  to  those  on  shore.  Then  there 
came  another  cheer,  but  fainter;  it  was  the 
answer  of  the  Vandalia  to  the  Trenton.  A 
moment  later  the  people  on  the  shore  heard 
something  stranger  than  the  cheers,  stranger 
190 


THE  WRECK  OF  THE  WAR-SHIPS   AT  SAMOA 

than  anything  they  had  ever  heard  or  imag- 
ined ;  it  was  a  band  playing  "  The  Star- 
spangled  Banner" — the  Trenton's  band  play- 
ing the  national  anthem,  in  a  hurricane,  to 
cheer  up  the  poor  fellows  clinging  to  the  rig- 
ging of  her  stranded  consort,  and  perhaps  to 
encourage  her  own  exhausted  men  as  well. 

But  it  was  a  good  omen,  that  music.  The 
fears  of  the  people  on  shore  regarding  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Vandalia  and  the  Trenton  were  un- 
founded. The  great  ships  came  together  as 
gently  as  friends,  and  the  flag  -  ship  loom- 
ed up  at  the  side  of  her  stricken  consort  and 
sheltered  her.  The  men  in  the  Vandalia's  rig- 
ging crept  along  the  great  yard-arms  of  the 
Trenton,  and  found  relief  and  safety  on  the 
sturdy  flag-ship.  The  meeting  was  just  in  time, 
for  the  men  were  hardly  out  of  the  rigging  of 
the  Vandalia  before  her  masts  went  overboard. 
The  Trenton  stood  well  out  of  water,  and  by 
morning  the  storm  had  subsided. 


A    WINTER'S    MORNING    IN    THE 
YELLOW    SEA 

An  Incident  of  the  C kino-Japanese  War 

[HERE  exists  no  more  disagreeable 
place  for  a  winter's  anchorage  than 
the  so  -  called  harbor  of  Che  -  f  oo, 
China,  just  north  of  the  Shan-tung 
Promontory,  in  the  Yellow  Sea.  During  the 
winter  of  1895-6  a  powerful  fleet  of  some 
twenty  war -vessels,  representing  the  flags  of 
seven  nationalities,  was  gathered  together 
there.  The  Chino- Japanese  war  was  then  in 
progress,  and  the  active  operations  of  the  Japa- 
nese, in  the  investment  of  Wei-hai-wei,  had 
been  going  on  for  some  time.  From  Wei-hai- 
wei,  Che-foo  was  distant  about  thirty-five  miles, 
and  this  latter  port,  having  been  one  of  those 
originally  opened  by  treaty,  had  acquired  im- 
portance as  a  commercial  centre  for  the  north 

of  China.     In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  this 
192 


A  WINTER'S  MORNING    IN  THE   YELLOW  SEA 

place,  and  for  miles  in  the  interior,  were  scat- 
tered hundreds  of  missionaries  of  different 
sects  and  nationalities,  the  Americans  forming 
a  large  majority. 

To  guard  the  interests  of  foreigners  in  gen- 
eral, and  incidentally  to  take  advantage  of  such 
lessons  as  were  to  be  learned  from  the  war  then 
in  progress,  the  several  nations  had  assembled 
in  the  East  as  many  vessels  as  should  best  serve 
the  interests  involved. 

Probably  a  combination  of  finer  war-vessels, 
representing  all  types,  has  seldom  been  seen 
than  the  international  fleet  of  that  winter.  An 
agreement  had  been  entered  into  by  the  com- 
manders -  in  -  chief  representing  Great  Britain, 
Russia,  France,  Germany,  and  the  United 
States,  for  the  protection  of  citizens.  The  best 
of  feeling  existed  among  the  officers  and  men, 
and  all  hands  were  keenly  alert  for  such  service 
that  might  be  required. 

The  trials  of  that  winter  were  numerous; 
the  weather  was  inclement,  provisions  were 
scarce,  and  recreation ! — there  was  none.  Gale 
followed  gale  with  great  frequency.  Storm- 
tossed,  the  vessels  rode  at  their  moorings  with 
steam  up,  rigging  and  decks  covered  with  snow, 
sides  and  pipes  covered  with  ice.  Communica- 
193 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

tion  with  the  shore,  except  by  signal,  was  shut 
off  for  days  at  a  time,  and  with  these  conditions 
obtaining,  the  life  on  shipboard  was  not  all  that 
could  be  desired.  The  ice  made  out  from  shore 
for  nearly  two  miles,  and  some  attempts  to  land 
proved  disastrous  to  the  boats,  with  correspond- 
ing discomforts  for  the  crews. 

Occasionally  the  monotony  for  those  on  the 
Charleston  and  Yorktown  was  varied  by  being 
sent  on  hazardous  trips  to  rescue  missionaries, 
or  to  watch  the  operations  of  the  belligerents 
off  Wei-hai-wei.  For  those  on  the  flag-ship, 
however,  there  was  no  such  good-fortune.  We 
held  the  end  of  the  cable,  directing  the  move- 
ments of  the  vessels  of  the  squadron,  informing 
the  Department  of  the  progress  of  events,  and 
keeping  a  watchful  eye  over  the  small  body  of 
troops  that  had  been  landed  to  prevent  antici- 
pated disorders  among  the  Chinese,  being  also 
prepared  to  throw  ashore  at  any  moment  a 
large  body  of  re-enforcements. 

Watching  had  become  wearisome,  and  many 
were  the  longings  for  the  end  to  come  that  a 
temporary  respite  might  be  ours.  The  doom 
of  Wei-hai-wei  was  sealed.  Count  Oyama, 
with  his  perfectly  appointed  army,  manoeuvred 
with  a  master's  hand,  had  captured  the  forts  on 

194 


A  WINTER'S  MORNING    IN  THE   YELLOW  SEA 

the  east  and  west  sides ;  the  sledge  -  hammer 
blows  struck  by  the  ships  of  Admiral  Ito  had 
resulted  in  mortal  wounds,  so  that  all  that  re- 
mained of  the  once  magnificent  stronghold  of 
Wei-hai-wei  were  the  islands  of  Leu-kung,  be- 
hind which  the  remnant  of  the  once  vaunted 
Chinese  fleet  had  sought  refuge,  and  Channel 
Island,  with  its  still  powerfully  offensive  bat- 
tery. 

The  Chinese  battle  -  ships  Ting  -  Yuen  and 
Chen-Yuen  remained  sullenly  defiant: — a  men- 
ace to  the  Japanese.  It  was  not,  therefore,  the 
policy  of  Admiral  Ito  to  bring  his  lighter  ves- 
sels within  too  close  quarters  of  solid  fortifica- 
tions and  ironclads.  The  Chinese  could  not 
escape;  why,  then,  risk  the  lighter  ships  when 
a  little  patient  waiting  would  produce  the  de- 
sired result  ?  The  dashing  torpedo-boat  attacks 
of  the  Japanese  on  the  nights  of  February  4th 
and  5th  had  brought  havoc  and  destruction  to 
the  Chinese  fleet,  sinking  four  of  their  ships, 
and  giving  the  much-overwrought  nerves  of  the 
Celestials  a  bad  shaking  up. 

Information  came  to  the  American  com- 
mander-in-chief  that  it  was  probably  the  inten- 
tion of  Admiral  Ito  to  finish  the  work  on  Feb- 
ruary 7th. 

105 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

In  that  latitude,  at  that  season  of  the  year, 
day  is  late  in  breaking,  but  the  date  in  ques- 
tion proved  to  be  an  ideal  winter's  day.  Not 
even  a  gentle  breeze  was  blowing;  the  air  was 
clear,  crisp,  and  cold,  with  the  thermometer  at 
6°  Fah.,  while  the  bay  showed  no  movement  of 
the  closely  packed  cakes  of  floating  ice. 

The  harbor  of  Che-f  oo  is  such  in  name  only ; 
it  consists  of  a  small  indentation  in  the  coast, 
with  two  small  islands,  on  one  of  which  is  the 
lighthouse,  about  four  miles  from  shore ;  to  the 
northward  the  anchorage  is  limited  by  a  nar- 
row neck  of  land  that  rises  to  a  bluff,  the  latter 
facing  the  sea.  Beyond  the  bluff  and  outside 
the  harbor  limits  is  a  half -moon  bay,  which  on 
this  occasion  was  filled  with  ice  extending  out 
about  two  miles,  and  closely  packed  by  the  re- 
cent gales. 

Shortly  after  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  February  7th,  from  the  direction  of  Wei- 
hai-wei  came  the  reverberations  of  heavy  can- 
nonading, and  the  decks  of  the  vessels  at  the 
Che-foo  anchorage  were  soon  peopled  with  offi- 
cers and  men  impatiently  awaiting  develop- 
ments. 

Within  an  hour  unusual  activity  was  ob- 
served among  the  Chinese  soldiers  in  the  fort 
196 


A  WINTER'S  MORNING   IN  THE  YELLOW  SEA 

of  Che-foo,  and  it  was  noted  that  the  heavy 
Krupp  guns  had  been  given  extreme  eleva- 
tion. 

Far  to  the  southward  appeared  a  speck  on 
the  water,  and  with  glasses  it  was  soon  made 
out  to  be  a  torpedo  -  boat  under  full  steam 
coming  towards  the  port  of  Che-foo.  It  was 
seen  that  the  boat  was  trimmed  by  the  stern, 
all  the  crew  being  on  deck  aft,  the  better  to  im- 
merse the  screw.  From  the  stream  of  smoke 
that  piled  from  the  pipe  it  was  evident  that  the 
little  craft  was  being  urged  to  its  utmost  speed. 
Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  torpedo  -  boats  of 
both  belligerents  were  painted  a  neutral  color, 
it  was  not  easy  to  decide  upon  the  nationality 
of  the  stranger,  for  naturally  no  flag  was  dis- 
played. Following  at  a  distance  of  about  half 
a  mile  came  a  second  boat,  but  as  no  firing  was 
going  on,  it  was  concluded  they  were  friends. 
The  mystery  was  soon  explained  by  the  ap- 
pearance, further  out  at  sea,  of  two  Japanese 
cruisers — the  Yoshino,  tlie  speediest  and  hand- 
somest ship  of  their  navy,  and  the  TacTiachiho, 
the  prototype  of  our  Charleston.  It  could  be 
seen  that  they  were  in  pursuit  of  the  two  tor- 
pedo-boats. Their  sharp  prows  were  cutting 
the  water  like  knives,  and  through  the  glass  the 
197 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

officers  and  crew  could  be  observed  anxiously 
watching  the  chase. 

There  is  something  in  a  race,  be  it  great  or 
small,  that  stirs  the  blood  of  every  man,  and 
when  the  race  is  one  for  life  and  liberty  the  in- 
terest becomes  more  intense. 

The  scene  was  one  never  to  be  forgotten. 
The  day  was  all  that  could  be  desired  for  speed- 
ing a  torpedo-boat;  not  a  ripple  to  mar  prog- 
ress; outside  the  islands  the  sea  was  clear  of 
ice,  while  the  cold,  crisp  air  was  most  favor- 
able for  the  draught. 

With  the  approach  of  the  vessels  grew  the 
excitement  of  the  observers;  the  cold  was  for- 
gotten, gloves  and  coats  were  thrown  aside,  and 
officers  and  men  mounted  the  icy  rigging  the 
better  to  view  the  chase.  Those  that  were  fort- 
unate enough  to  possess  glasses  reported  inci- 
dents that  could  not  be  seen  by  the  less  fortu- 
nate. Admiral  and  staff,  officers  and  men, 
elbowed  one  another,  forgetful  of  all  but  the 
excitement  of  the  moment.  Each  little  gain 
or  loss  was  carefully  noted,  and  brought  forth 
breathless  remarks  from  the  interested  specta- 
tors. Some  of  the  crew,  more  sharp  -  sighted 
than  the  others,  reported  the  progress  of  the 
race,  and  as  the  cruisers  closed  more  and  more 

198 


A  WINTER'S   MORNING  IN  THE   YELLOW  SEA 

upon  the  torpedo-boats  the  excitement  grew  in- 
tense. "  Now  the  big  one's  gaining !"  "  No, 
the  little  one's  holding  her  own!"  etc.  Gruff 
exclamations  of  this  sort  were  heard  on  every 
side. 

The  little  torpedo  -  boats  were  game,  and 
fought  on  manfully,  one  might  say,  foot  by 
foot. 

From  the  pipes  of  pursuer  and  pursued 
poured  forth  columns  of  smoke  that  trailed  be- 
hind like  dense  black  streamers,  seemingly  to 
portend  the  tragedy  that  was  to  follow;  while, 
as  if  by  contrast,  the  water  parted  by  the  rap- 
idly speeding  vessels  broke  in  waves  that  glis- 
tened and  scintillated  in  the  sunlight  in  spec- 
tacular magnificence. 

It  was  estimated  that  the  Yoshino  was  mak- 
ing nineteen  knots  and  over,  and  it  was  evi- 
dent that  a  heavy  forced  draught  was  being 
carried.  The  first  torpedo-boat  was  holding  its 
own,  or  doing  a  trifle  better,  but  the  second  and 
smaller  of  the  two  was  slo\yly  but  surely  losing 
distance. 

One  was  strangely  reminded  of  the  coursing 
of  hares  by  large  and  powerful  hounds,  only  in 
this  case  the  lives  of  human  beings  were  in- 
volved, and  the  chances  for  the  torpedo-boats, 
199 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

if  caught,  were  about  equal  to  those  of  the 
hares  under  like  conditions.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  unofficial  sympathies  of  the  on- 
lookers in  regard  to  the  war  then  going  on,  it 
seemed  to  be  the  universal  wish  that  "  the  little 
fellows  "  might  escape. 

For  a  moment,  off  the  harbor,  the  course  of 
the  leading  boat  deviated,  as  if  to  take  refuge 
behind  the  shipping.  That  moment  was  the 
signal  for  unusual  activity  for  the  vessels  at 
anchor ;  capstans  were  started  and  preparations 
made  for  a  hurried  departure,  for  had  the 
Chinese  boats  entered  they  would  have  been 
followed  by  the  cruisers,  and  it  would  have  re- 
quired lively  work  on  the  part  of  the  neutrals 
to  get  out  of  range. 

The  Chinese  lieutenant  who  commande^ 
the  torpedo-boat  evidently  concluded  not  to  be 
a  disturbing  element  to  the  fleet  at  anchor ;  the 
course  was  renewed,  and,  rounding  the  bluff, 
an  attempt  was  made  to  reach  the  shore  by  ram- 
ming the  ice.  The  floe  was  found  to  be  too 
heavy  for  the  light  craft,  so,  skirting  the  edge 
of  the  ice,  the  boat  stranded  in  shoal  water; 
the  occupants  made  a  hurried  exit  and  took  to 
the  woods.  The  second  boat  likewise  tried  the 
ice,  but  finding  that  no  impression  could  be 

200 


A  WINTER'S  MORNING   IN  THE  YELLOW  SEA 

made  thereon,  sought  to  escape,  as  its  principal 
had  done,  by  skirting  the  pack  until  shoal 
water  could  be  reached.  But  there  was  no 
time ;  the  Yoshino  was  too  close,  and  that  pow- 
erful vessel  ploughed  through  the  ice  at  a  tre- 
mendous rate  of  speed.  When  the  nearest  point 
to  the  runaway  was  reached,  we  heard  the  ugly, 
quick  bark  of  the  Yoshino' s  three  -  pounders, 
and  the  race  was  over.  With  a  mighty  roar  the 
safety-valves  of  the  big  cruiser  were  lifted,  and 
for  security  the  vessel  headed  seaward.  There 
was  no  time  to  lower  boats;  the  water  was  in- 
tensely cold,  and  it  was  never  learned  that  any 
of  the  crew  of  the  riddled  boat  •  escaped.  The 
guns  of  the  Yoshino  sang  the  only  requiem  over 
the  watery  graves  of  those  that  went  down  with 
their  ship. 

The  stranded  boat  was  hauled  off  the  next 
day  by  boats  from  the  Tachachiho,  and  was 
taken  to  the  Japanese  navy-yard  at  Yekesuka. 
Several  months  later  this  trophy  of  the  war  was 
shown  to  the  writer  by  a  Japanese  naval  officer, 
the  latter  little  suspecting  that  his  visitor  had 
witnessed  the  interesting  episode  of  its  capture 
on  that  eventful  winter's  morning  in  the  Yel- 
low Sea. 


14 


ON    THE    BLOCKADE 

The  Tale  of  a  Night-Alarm 

[HE  grim  outlines  of  Morro's  battle- 
ments loomed  up  dark  and  fore- 
boding only  three  miles  away  from 
Admiral  Sampson's  ever  -  watchful 
blockading  squadron.  The  precipitous  coast 
extended  in  an  unbroken  line  to  the  eastward 
and  westward,  till  it  became  merged  into  the 
less  dark  shadow  of  the  Caribbean  Sea.  In  the 
day,  with  the  warm  sun  shining  upon  the  luxu- 
riant tropical  verdure,  reflected  from  the  rails  of 
the  railroad  by  the  sea,  the  trestles  and  bridges 
half  hidden  beneath  the  profusion  of  trees,  San- 
tiago is  not  an  awe-inspiring  spectacle.  But  a 
pall  had  been  thrown  over  all  this,  and  to  the 
watchers  but  a  right  line  could  be  seen — the 
meeting  of  the  cliff  with  the  sky.  The  night 
was  dark  and  cloudy,  and  the  eyes  of  many 

202 


ON  THE    BLOCKADE 

sentries  and  men  on  lookout  were  vying  with 
the  officers  on  watch,  ever  vigilant  to  discover 
the  slightest  suspicion  of  an  enemy's  torpedo- 
destroyer,  the  dreaded  weapons  of  destruction  of 
Admiral  Cervera's  fleet.  The  huge  battle-ships 
appeared  as  but  a  smudge  on  the  horizon  to  the 
gunboats  or  videttes,  that  were  lying  well  in, 
almost  under  the  very  guns  of  this  frowning 
fortress,  guarding  these  expensive  creatures  of 
American  handicraft  with  their  lives  from  the 
attack  of  the  expected  but  very  unwelcome  noc- 
turnal visitors. 

Admiral  Cervera  had  entered  the  harbor  of 
Santiago  with  the  will-o'-the-wisp  Cape  de 
Verde  squadron  of  Spain  but  a  scant  week 
before,  and  Admiral  Sampson's  order  was, 
"  They  must  not  escape."  From  captain  to 
the  lowest  sailor,  Yankee  grit  and  daring  would 
carry  out  this  order  to  the  letter.  Two  nights 
before,  a  collier  had  been  sunk  by  Lieutenant 
Hobson  in  the  narrow  channel  of  the  harbor, 
but  the  brave  crew  had  not  returned  to  tell 
of  the  success  of  the  perilous  undertaking. 
The  way  might  be  blocked  for  the  large  ships, 
but  the  "  destroyers  "  surely  could  pass  if  their 
crews  had  the  nerve  to  make  the  venture;  the 
lack  of  such  fterve  was  foreign  to  the  thoughts 

203 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE   SAM'S  SAILORS 

of  the  watch-dogs  outside.  If  the  tables  were 
turned,  there  was  not  a  man  who  would  not 
gladly  and  willingly  barter  his  birthright  for 
the  privilege  of  volunteering  to  destroy  the 
boats  of  the  blockading  enemy. 

An  attack  was  hourly  expected.  The  dread- 
ed dark  of  the  moon,  the  friend  of  the  torpedo, 
favored  the  caged  enemy.  But  few  eyes  closed 
in  sleep  aboard  the  motionless  war-ships  during 
the  dreary  watches  of  the  night.  The  captains, 
upon  whom  rested  the  great  weight  of  respon- 
sibility for  hundreds  of  human  lives  and  mil- 
lions of  money,  were  seldom  off  the  bridges  of 
their  ships.  The  theories  of  torpedo-boat  war- 
fare were  about  to  be  put  to  a  crucial  test.  It 
had  been  a  much-disputed  question  how  much 
real  danger  a  torpedo-boat  was  to  a  battle-ship. 
The  whole  question,  experts  had  declared,  de- 
pended upon  the  latter's  vigilance,  and  also 
"  the  man  behind  the  gun."  Vigilance  would 
not  be  lacking ;  the  other  surely  would  be  there. 
Americans  had  always  been  proud  of  their 
marksmanship.  Two  torpedo -boat -destroyers, 
by  evading  the  sleepless  vedettes,  might  by  a 
simultaneous  attack  from  an  unexpected  quar- 
ter render  good  account  of  their  deadly  torpe- 
does. The  cordon  of  armored  ships  stretched 

204 


ON  THE   BLOCKADE 

in  a  semicircle  of  three  miles  radius,  with 
Morro  as  a  centre,  the  heavy  battle-ships  im- 
mediately off  the  entrance,  the  cruisers  on  the 
flanks,  steam  up,  ready  to  engage,  run  ashore, 
or  otherwise  destroy  the  enemy  if  he  dared 
attempt  to  force  this  formidable  blockade. 
Close  inshore,  so  close  to  the  bold  coast  of  Cuba 
that  the  roar  of  the  sea  was  heard  as  it  dashed 
itself  to  foam  on  the  rocks,  standing  watch  with 
the  guardians  of  the  night,  were  the  small  gun- 
boats. Their  duty  was  to  discover  and  destroy, 
at  whatever  risk,  any  torpedo  craft  of  the  ene- 
my attempting  to  force  the  blockade  unseen, 
gain  the  unengaged  side  of  the  silent  war-ships 
under  cover  of  the  shadow  of  the  cliff,  and 
send  one  or  more  to  the  bottom  with  a  well- 
aimed  torpedo.  Time  and  time  again  the  dull 
boom  of  a  gun  had  reverberated  over  the  dark 
waters,  and  a  screech  of  a  shell  had  told  one 
of  these  daring  vedettes  that  she  had  ventured 
in  too  close  for  Spanish  honor  to  stand. 

Silent  groups  of  officers  could  be  seen  on  the 
quarter  -  decks  of  the  grim,  gray  ships.  But 
few  words  were  spoken ;  all  thoughts  were  upon 
the  pending  danger.  Anxious  glances  out  into 
the  black  night  snowed  the  heavy  strain  on  iron 

nerves. 

205 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

The  officer  of  the  deck  on  one  of  the  vedette 
ships,  glasses  glued  to  his  eyes,  was  sweeping 
the  dark  coast  from  Morro  to  the  eastward, 
every  once  in  a  while  taking  a  hasty  look  over 
his  shoulder  at  the  smudges  of  the  large  ships 
far  out  on  the  ocean,  as  if  to  assure  himself 
that  his  charges  were  still  safe. 

"  Nothing  must  pass  us,"  were  his  captain's 
words  as  he  went  to  sleep  in  his  chair,  worn  out 
by  incessant  watching  and  nights  of  sleepless- 
ness, which  will  wreck  the  strongest  constitu- 
tion. Half  the  crew  were  on  their  feet  at  their 
guns,  every  gun  was  loaded,  and  ready  at  the 
simple  pressure  of  a  button  or  the  pull  of  a 
lock-string  to  hurl  its  death-dealing  missiles 
at  the  enemy  whenever  discovered.  Dark  fig- 
ures could  be  made  out  in  little  groups  lean- 
ing on  gnn  or  rail.  Every  eye  was  turned 
towards  the  direction  from  which  the  attack 
must  come.  The  officer  on  watch  heaved  a 
sigh  of  relief  as  he  glanced  over  his  vigilant 
"  watch  on  deck,"  feeling  that  even  if  his  eye 
failed  he  had  the  eyes  of  nearly  fivescore  men 
to  warn  him  of  any  approaching  danger.  Time 
and  again  some  of  these  overwrought  lookouts 
had  sighted  something  suspicious,  but  a  closer 
look  with  the  glass  had  shown  that  it  was  but  a 

206 


ON  THE   BLOCKADE 

deeper  shadow  in  the  frowning  cliffs.  By  his 
side  on  the  chart-table  were  three  pistols.  The 
discharge  of  these,  throwing  red  or  green  stars 
high  in  the  air,  would  warn  the  rest  of  the  fleet 
of  the  approach  of  the  enemy.  As  his  glass 
revealed  something  suspicious  under  the  deep 
shadow  of  the  rock-bound  coast,  his  right  hand 
clutched  at  the  pistol  nearest  him,  and  a  lump 
arose  in  his  throat,  but  as  his  keen  eye  saw 
through  the  apparent  enemy,  his  hand  dropped 
to  his  side,  and  the  lump  smoothed  itself  away 
in  a  half-disappointed  yet  relieved  way  that  he 
could  not  understand.  Was  his  love  for  adven- 
ture trying  to  get  the  mastery  over  his  weaker 
self?  Did  fear  sit  on  his  shoulder  for  even  the 
fraction  of  a  minute  and  try  to  whisper  into 
his  reluctant  ear?  He  had  not  time  now  to 
analyze  his  feelings. 

The  night  had  worn  on;  his  four  hours 
of  weary  watching  were  nearly  passed ;  his 
thoughts  flew  back  thousands  of  miles  across 
the  sea  to  his  home,  to  those  who  were  looking 
after  his  welfare  far  away  in  America.  He 
wished  they  could  be  nearer.  Would  that  this 
weary  war  were  over !  Then  his  professional 
aspirations  banished  all  thoughts  of  loved  ones, 
and  his  eyes  again  peered  with  ceaseless  vigil- 

207 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

ance  into  the  all-pervading  blackness  of  the 
tropical  night.  His  glass  trembled  slightly. 
He  rubbed  his  eyes  hastily,  as  if  he  were  afraid 
he  had  gone  into  dreamland  for  a  minute.  His 
hands  took  a  firmer  hold  on  his  binoculars,  and 
he  swept  them  spasmodically  through  a  small 
arc.  Surely  he  saw  well  and  right.  "  The 
best  way  to  discover  a  torpedo-boat  is  by  her 
smoke,"  were  the  instructions  of  the  com- 
mander -  in  -  chief  in  his  last  general  orders. 
These  words  danced  in  his  brain.  Why  did  not 
some  one  else  see  it?  He  glanced  nervously 
over  his  men  still  on  their  feet,  but  they  could 
not  be  vigilant:  if  so,  they  must  see  it.  The 
captain  still  slept  in  his  chair  by  his  side.  No 
time  could  be  lost ;  he  must  act  promptly.  His 
knees  seemed  almost  ready  to  give  way;  his 
tongue  had  cloven  to  the  roof  of  his  mouth;  a 
cold  sweat  stood  out  like  beads  on  his  hot  brow. 
The  ever-ready  pistol  was  in  his  hand.  Why 
didn't  he  give,  the  warning  ?  lie  must  be  sure ; 
he  could  not  give  a  false  alarm.  He  took  an- 
other look  with  his  glass.  A  small  light  flicker- 
ed a  moment  under  the  smoke,  close  under  the 
shadow  of  the  cliff. 

"  Light  ho !"   and  the  quick  hail  from  the 
forecastle,  drove  away  all  doubt  of  his  wakeful- 

208 


ON  THE  BLOCKADE 

ness.  Two  red  stars  in  rapid  succession  and 
then  a  green  one  rose  high  in  the  air,  lighting 
up  the  sky  and  water  with  their  brilliant  light, 
and  telling  of  the  discovery  of  the  enemy's 
torpedo-boats. 

The  small  guns  in  the  tops  had  already  be- 
gun to  bark  their  menace  to  the  enemy.  Search- 
lights were  turned  on,  and  were  concentrated 
on  the  swiftly  fleeing  object.  The  near  vedette 
ships  had  joined  in  the  fight  with  their  rapid- 
firing  guns,  and  the  point  of  meeting  of  the 
many  beams  of  light  was  lashed  to  foam  by  the 
ploughing  of  steel.  On  went  the  speedy  ene- 
my. The  smoke,  but  dimly  seen  before,  now  in 
the  bright  beams  of  light  seemed  volumes. 
Faster  and  faster  went  the  fleeing  target  for 
scores  of  rapid  -  fire  machine  -  guns,  making  a 
noble  effort  to  escape. 

Quicker  and  more  furious  became  the  fire 
from  the  American  ships.  One  ship  had 
charged  ahead  as  if  to  plant  herself  in  the  path 
of  the  fleeing  aquatic  ghost,  but  the  return 
surge  of  the  sea  so  close  under  her  forefoot  had 
warned  her  of  her  danger. 

The  firing,  as  if  by  an  order,  almost  ceased ; 
the  beams  of  the  search-lights  were  sweeping 
the  coast  in  the  vicinity  of  where  the  enemy 

209 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

had  been  seen  but  a  moment  before,  but  the 
jagged  rocks  and  the  seething  surge  of  the 
ocean  were  all  that  they  revealed.  The  Amer- 
ican ships  slowly  withdrew  to  their  stations, 
with  the  conviction  that  one  of  Admiral  Cer- 
vera's  terrible  destroyers  had  been  sent  to  her 
account. 

In  the  small  hours  of  the  morning  a  belated 
railroad  train  reached  its  station  at  Daiquiri, 
its  box-cars  riddled  with  holes,  and  its  crew 
in  the  last  stage  of  nervous  prostration.  It  was 
hours  before  the  military  authorities  could  get 
the  explanation  of  their  night's  experience — 
that  the  train,  not  a  torpedo-boat,  had  been  the 
target  of  a  fleet. 


DERELICTS    OF    THE    SEA 

And  the  Navy's  Work  in  Destroying  Them 

JROM  the  rugged  snow  -  capped 
shores  of  Greenland  to  the  dreary 
wilderness  of  waters  that  wash  the 
Cape  Horn  rock,  and  from  east  to 
west  as  far  as  the  oceans  roll,  the  relics  of 
once  proud  and  mighty  ships  are  scattered  over 
the  surface  of  the  deep.  With  usefulness  and 
strength  and  beauty  gone,  they  seem  to  strug- 
gle against  the  fate  which  is  dragging  them  to 
the  graveyard  of  the  derelict,  on  the  sandy 
platform  thousands  of  fathoms  down,  where 
the  skeletons  of  Viking  boats  and  Spanish  gal- 
leons keep  company  with  princely  steamships 
and  frowning,  ponderous  men-of-war.  One  day 
these  drifting,  history-laden  hulks  are  caressed 
by  the  murmuring  and  gentle  sun-bathed  sea; 
the  next  swept  and  torn  and  mangled  anew  by 
the  surges  that  hurl  themselves  in  fury  upon 

211 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

the  expiring  victims  of  treachery  and  passion. 
Pathetic  indeed  are  the  thoughts  that  come 
to  us  as  we  contemplate  the  tragedies  enacted 
on  this  watery  stage,  with  phosphorescent  fires 
for  footlights  and  howling  winds  and  breaking 
seas  for  an  orchestra. 

Let  us  all,  in  imagination,  go  off  on  an  ocean 
cruise  together,  like  curiosity  seekers  visiting 
a  battle-field  after  the  shock  of  conflict,  when 
the  smoke  has  rolled  away,  when  the  birds  are 
twittering  again  in  the  trees,  the  kindly  sun- 
light pouring  over  the  scene,  and  only  the  sight 
of  broken  and  shot-riddled  artillery  wagons, 
and  twisted,  ruined  implements  left  as  silent 
witnesses  of  the  struggle. 

We  leave  port,  and  steer  a  course  that  will 
keep  us  in  the  highway  of  ocean  commerce,  for 
naturally  it  is  here  that  we  expect  to  have  our 
quest  rewarded,  although  on  all  parts  of  the 
sea  these  relics  are  to  be  found  drifting  under 
the  influence  of  wind  and  current.  The  sun 
soon  disappears  below  the  horizon  to  the  west- 
ward, where  sky  and  water  seem  to  meet,  and 
the  rosy  face  of  the  full  moon  rises  up  in  the 
heavens,  sending  a  broad  beam  of  golden  light 
across  the  dancing  waves.  'Way  ahead  of  us 
we  see  two  points  of  light  close  together  near 

212 


DERELICTS  OF  THE  SEA 

the  surface  of  the  sea,  one  green,  the  other  red, 
and  a  little  above  them  a  bright,  white  orb  like 
a  planet,  which  appears  to  watch  over  the  two 
beneath.  We  call  the  captain's  attention  to 
them,  asking  him  if  the  stars  at  sea  are  dif- 
ferent in  color  to  those  viewed  from  the  land. 
He  smilingly  informs  us  that  we  are  looking 
at  the  side  and  mast-hea(J  lights  of  an  ocean 
steamship  coming  towards  us;  that  we  will 
see  the  green  light  vanish  as  soon  as  the  color- 
ed lamps  of  our  vessel  are  detected  from  the 
other,  for  the  officer  on  her  bridge  will  alter 
his  course  to  the  right,  according  to  the  rules 
laid  down  for  preventing  collisions  on  the  ocean 
between  ships  propelled  by  steam.  Exactly  as 
the  captain  predicts,  the  bright  green  point  is 
snuffed  out,  but  not  until  the  outlines  of  the 
majestic  vessel  are  viewed  by  us  as  she  rushes 
in  our  direction,  cutting  a  path  through  the 
moonlit  waves.  So  little  distance  separates  us 
when  we  are  nearly  abreast  that  the  sound  of 
music  is  clearly  heard.  The  passengers  are 
evidently  enjoying  the  last  night  of  the  voyage, 
and  putting  a  note  of  gladness  into  their  songs, 
for  the  journey  is  safely  accomplished,  and 
port  and  home  are  just  ahead. 

Suddenly   it  becomes   apparent   that   some- 

213 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

thing  is  wrong.  A  mad  churning  under  the 
stern  of  the  steamship  where  the  great  propeller 
is  whirling,  and  the  quick  change  of  course 
towards  us,  which  brings  again  the  green  light 
into  view,  is  evidence  of  an  emergency.  At  the 
same  instant  a  heavy  crash  and  splintering  of 
timbers  proves  that  a  collision  has  occurred. 
The  steamer  is  now  stationary,  and  we  run 
down  alongside  of  her  to  learn  the  nature  of 
the  trouble  and  make  an  offer  of  assistance. 

"  We  have  run  into  a  derelict,"  her  com- 
mander calls  back  in  answer  to  our  hail ;  "  but 
our  damage  is  light,  and  we  will  be  able  to 
make  port  without  assistance!" 

So  we  have  had  an  experience  with  a  derelict 
the  first  night  out,  and  it  gives  us  subject  for 
conversation  until  long  after  the  course  has 
been  resumed  and  the  mass  of  the  steamship  has 
faded  out  astern. 

Morning  promises  us  a  rich  harvest  of 
wrecks,  for  the  derelict  chart  published  by  the 
United  States  naval  authorities  shows  a  rare 
collection  of  floating  hulks  close  together,  in 
a  square  of  the  ocean  from  which  we  are  sepa- 
rated by  only  a  few  miles.  In  fact,  while  we 
are  at  breakfast,  the  officer  on  watch  sends  word 
to  the  captain  that  there  is  something  in  sight 

214 


DERELICTS  OF  THE  SEA 

ahead.  Then  there  is  a  mad  scramble  up  the 
companionway  stairs.  In  answer  to  our  eager 
questions  the  mate  points  directly  ahead,  where 
a  long,  low  object  rests  on  the  water,  occasion- 
ally flashing  like  a  mirror,  and  on  and  around 
which  hundreds  of  sea-birds  are  to  be  counted. 
As  we  approach,  it  grows  into  shape,  and  is 
made  out  to  be  the  hull  of  a  large  vessel  floating 
with  her  keel  in  the  air.  The  cause  of  the 
flashes  we  perceive  to  be  due  to  the  copper 
sheathing  reflecting  the  sun's  rays  as  the  wreck 
rolls  sluggishly  on  the  gentle  swell. 

We  exchange  comments  on  the  novel  spec- 
tacle, and  ask  the  captain  why  it  is  that  the 
hull  does  not  sink.  He  explains  that  it  is  kept 
buoyant  by  the  air  which  is  confined  in  the 
hold,  and  tells  us  his  experience  when  living 
for  three  days  shut  up  with  several  companions 
in  the  interior  of  a  capsized  vessel.  This  is  the 
way  he  relates  the  story: 

"  A  number  of  years  ago,  when  I  was  second 
mate  of  the  brig  Nancy,  belonging  to  Philadel- 
phia, I  met  with  the  most  exciting  experience 
in  my  life,  and  came  near  losing  the  number 
of  my  mess.  We  had  carried  a  general  cargo 
out  of  Antigua  in  the  Windward  West  Indies, 
and  were  on  our  way  to  Havana  in  ballast, 

215 


ADVENTURES   OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

to  get  a  homeward  freight  of  sugar.  The  day 
after  sailing  the  wind  died  away  altogether, 
and  left  us  becalmed  in  close  company  with  two 
brigs  like  ourselves,  and  a  big  three  -  masted 
vessel  with  painted  ports.  After  watching  the 
barometer  for  a  couple  of  hours  and  finding 
it  falling,  the  weather  growing  wilder  looking, 
and  the  sky  taking  on  a  sickly  greenish  hue,  the 
captain  gave  orders  to  strike  top-gallant-masts, 
and  snug  the  brig  down.  While  we  were  at 
work  aloft  a  big  sea  commenced  to  roll,  al- 
though there  wasn't  enough  air  stirring  to  fan 
a  feather  off  the  top  of  the  cabin-house. 

"  It  took  us  an  hour  and  a  half  to  strip  the 
Nancy  to  a  reefed  main-topsail  and  a  storm 
jib.  About  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when 
the  sea  had  gotten  up  so  that  we  thought  the 
masts  would  go  out  of  her  with  every  roll  she 
made,  we  caught  the  sound  of  moaning  and 
screaming  out  to  the  eastward,  and  the  next 
minute  the  wind  came  down  on  us,  blowing 
away  the  tops  of  the  curling  seas,  and  sending 
them  hissing  on  before.  When  the  wind  hit 
us  I  thought  that  it  was  all  up  with  the  brig, 
for  she  lay  down  to  it,  until  her  lower  yard- 
arms  were  in  the  water,  and  the  waves  were 

coming  over  the  windward  bulwark  rail.    After 
216 


DERELICTS  OF  THE  SEA 

a  time  we  got  her  head  off,  and  then  the  way 
she  flew  before  the  gale  was  enough  to  take 
one's  breath  away.  For  about  an  hour  our 
light,  high-sided  vessel  was  blown  away  to  lee- 
ward like  a  bladder,  but  at  the  end  of  that  time 
the  captain  ordered  all  hands  to  bring  the  ship 
to,  as  the  seas  were  racing  after  us  so  fast  that 
more  than  once  they  almost  broke  on  board 
over  our  stern.  When  the  helm  was  put  down 
and  the  Nancy  fell  into  the  trough  of  the  sea, 
she  went  over  so  far  that  I  believed  it  was  go- 
ing to  be  eight  bells  for  us,  especially  when  I 
heard  the  ballast  in  the  hold  pitching  over  to 
the  lee.  At  last  we  got  her  pointed  up,  and 
lashed  the  tiller  so  as  to  keep  her  head  to  the 
wind. 

"  The  captain  now  ordered  me  to  go  down  in 
the  hold,  with  three  seamen,  and  shift  ballast, 
in  order  to  bring  the  brig  on  an  even  keel.  We 
entered  the  'tween  -  decks  through  the  small 
booby  hatch  abaft  the  mainmast,  and  were 
walking  forward  to  enter  the  hold  through  the 
open  square,  when  we  heard  a  loud  cry  on 
deck,  and  the  next  instant,  amid  the  noise  of 
ballast  being  flung  furiously  across  the  vessel, 
we  turned  a  somersault,  and  brought  up  heavily 

with  our  backs  against  the  upper-deck  beams, 
15  217 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

and  our  eyes  directed  towards  the  planks  over- 
head that  our  feet  had  trodden  but  a  moment 
before.  Quickly  realizing  our  situation,  I  cried 
to  the  men  that  the  brig  had  capsized,  and  to 
hurry  to  the  hatch  and  climb  into  the  hold  be- 
fore the  water  made  into  the  place  where  we 
were.  Fortunately  our  lamp  still  burned  to 
guide  us,  and  in  another  minute  we  mounted 
into  the  hold  and  perched  ourselves  on  top  of 
the  ballast  that  was  now  resting  on  the  flooring 
of  the  'tween-decks. 

"  It  would  make  too  long  a  story  to  tell  you 
what  we  suffered  from  despair  and  thirst  and 
hunger  during  the  three  days  that  we  were 
locked  up  in  that  floating  tomb.  It  is  enough 
to  say  that  on  the  morning  of  the  third  day, 
when  we  had  with  incessant  labor  made  two 
deep  parallel  cuts  about  two  feet  apart  and  al- 
most through  the  planking,  we  heard  the  sound 
of  heavy  guns  close  aboard,  which  told  us  of 
the  presence  of  a  man-of-war.  Picking  up  a 
heavy  stone  from  among  the  ballast,  I  dashed 
it  several  times  against  the  planks  between  the 
cuts,  until  at  last  the  weakened  place  was 
driven  out,  and  in  rushed  such  a  flood  of  glori- 
ous light  that  for  a  moment  we  were  blinded, 
and  fell  back  screening  our  eyes;  the  next,  we 

218 


DERELICTS  OF  THE  SEA 

were  scrambling  out  of  prison  and  clawing  our 
way  on  top  of  the  keel,  shouting  as  much  from 
joy  as  from  the  desire  to  attract  the  attention 
of  the  people  on  board  the  naval  ship  that  laid 
only  a  short  distance  from  us  making  a  target 
of  the  wreck  of  the  big  ship  that  had  been  in 
company  with  the  Nancy  a  few  days  before. 
We  were  soon  discovered  and  carried  on  board 
the  man-of-war,  and  landed  a  few  days  later 
in  Jamaica,  from  which  place  we  were  sent 
home  by  the  American  consul.  The  same  day 
that  we  were  picked  up  we  passed  two  of  the 
most  peculiar  -  looking  derelicts  I  have  ever 
seen.  Both  of  the  hulls  were  standing  straight 
up  in  the  water,  one  with  her  bow  and  the 
other  with  her  stern  in  the  air.  From  the 
closeness  of  these  vessels  to  the  wreck  of  the 
Nancy,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  they  were  the 
brigs  that  had  been  near  us  when  the  gale 
broke." 

The  captain's  story  concluded,  we  thank  him 
heartily  for  the  treat,  then  lay  aloft  to  sweep 
the  larger  circle  of  the  horizon.  We  have 
mounted  only  a  few  ratlines  when  we  detect 
off  on  the  starboard  bow  the  spars  of  a  vessel, 
and  a  little  higher  elevation,  with  the  aid  of 

the  binoculars,  brings  the  hull  into  view.     We 
219 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

head  towards  her,  and  are  soon  able  to  assure 
ourselves  that  although  motionless,  everything 
about  her  is  too  symmetrical  for  a  wreck,  and 
a  closer  acquaintance  develops  the  fact  that  it 
is  an  American  man-of-war,  engaged  in  re- 
moving from  the  track  of  steamers  and  sailing 
vessels  all  dangerous  obstructions  to  naviga- 
tion. A  number  of  large  spars  are  to  be  seen 
floating  in  the  vicinity  of  the  famous  old  war- 
ship, and  these  are  so  perfect  and  valuable  that 
they  are  being  collected  and  will  be  carried 
into  New  York  for  the  benefit  of  their  owners. 
One  of  the  lieutenants  pays  us  a  visit,  and 
courteously  explains  to  our  interested  group 
the  various  methods  employed  for  destroying 
abandoned  vessels  and  drifting  masts  and 
yards.  He  sketches  roughly  a  spar  found  that 
morning  floating  in  a  perpendicular  position, 
and  which  was  shattered  by  encircling  it  with 
a  ring  of  dynamite,  then  allowing  the  explosive 
to  drop  down  to  the  required  depth,  and  firing 
it  by  means  of  a  small  electric  battery  in  the 
launch.  In  answer  to  our  question  as  to  the 
most  dangerous  character  of  wreckage,  he  states 
it  to  be  that  which  floats  just  below  the  surface 
of  the  water,  and  whose  presence  is  only  to  be 
known  by  contact  with  it. 

220 


DERELICTS  OF  THE  SEA 

With  curiosity  gratified,  we  shape  the  course 
for  home,  expressing  a  hope  that  the  day  may 
be  far  distant  when  our  good  ship  shall  become 
a  derelict  of  the  sea. 


THE   LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  OLD  NAVY 

|P  anchor  for  home,"  comes  the 
order.  The  boVn  and  his  mates 
get  together,  and  their  shrill 
whistles  send  the  cheery  news 
throughout  the  ship,  and  the  homesick  tars  re- 
spond with  eagerness.  If  it  is  an  old  ship  of 
the  navy,  the  men  get  out  the  capstan  bars,  and 
with  a  jolly  swing  they  race  around,  and  final- 
ly the  anchor  comes  up.  If  it  is  a  new  ship, 
with  modern  appliances,  the  anchor  comes  up 
by  steam.  But  in  either  case  the  sailors  are 
homeward  bound,  and  as  the  ship  begins  to 
ripple  the  water,  out  from  the  main  breaks  the 
pennant  that  proclaims  duty  on  a  foreign  sta- 
tion is  ended,  and  that  it  won't  be  long  before 
they  are  in  what  most  of  the  sailors  and  a  great 
many  other  persons  call  "  God's  country." 
This  is  what  takes  place  when  one  of  the 

ships  of  the  navy  has  finished  a  cruise  of  three 
222 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  OLD  NAVY 

years  in  foreign  waters.  Glad  as  is  the  home- 
coming on  all  these  occasions,  there  has  been 
an  element  of  pathos  in  recent  years,  because 
the  return  has  marked  the  last  service  of  many 
of  our  most  historic  vessels.  In  other  words, 
the  wooden  ships  of  our  navy,  splendid  mis- 
tresses of  the  sea  in  their  time,  are  gone,  and 
with  their  passing  has  passed  much  of  the  mem- 
ory of  their  service,  the  storm  and  stress  of 
their  existence,  the  romance  of  their  years. 
Sailor  Jack  dearly  loves  his  ship,  and  if  she 
has  a  history,  loves  her  all  the  more.  There- 
fore it  is  that  the  home-coming  of  a  vessel  for 
the  last  time  has  a  sort  of  bitter-sweet  effect  on 
Jack. 

One  of  these  last  home-comings  awaited  the 
old  Lancaster  at  the  Brooklyn  I^avy-Yard  in 
1894.  After  an  honorable  service  of  thirty- 
six  years  she  was  brought  back  and  stripped 
of  all  her  glory  in  the  navy-yard.  Had  she 
been  wrecked  she  could  scarcely  have  presented 
a  more  forlorn  appearance.  Although  the  Lan- 
caster spent  most  of  her  time  in  the  civil  war 
on  the  Pacific  station,  and  her  sister  ships  did 
most  of  the  hard  fighting,  one  may  call  to  mind 
that  over  their  decks  and  through  their  rigging 

have  the  roar  and  screech  of  shot  and  shell 
223 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

sounded ;  beside  their  guns  have  the  brave  sail- 
ors shed  their  blood,  and  under  their  flags  have 
men  been  proud  to  die  for  their  country. 

In  more  peaceful  days  the  Lancaster  had 
been  the  scene  of  many  gayeties,  and  on  more 
than  one  occasion  royalty  had  trod  her  decks 
and  acknowledged  the  gracious  salutes  she  had 
given  them  on  behalf  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States.  Her  career  was  ended  not  so 
much  because  she  was  old  as  because  science 
was  merciless  and  had  no  time  for  romance  or 
sentiment ;  and  also  because  the  business  of  war 
had  no  longer  need  of  wooden  ships,  and  his- 
tory counts  for  nothing  with  a  power  that  looks 
to  the  future  and  has  put  the  past  behind  it. 

It  was  in  Yokohama  that  the  crew  of  the 
Lancaster  received  the  order  "  Up  anchor  for 
home."  The  jack-tars  had  prepared  for  it.  It 
is  one  of  the  privileges  of  the  crew  on  our  men- 
of-war  to  purchase  the  "  homeward  pennant." 
That  on  the  Lancaster  was  575  feet  long,  and 
cost  the  men  about  $400.  The  men  contribute 
to  the  cost  equally,  and  the  officers  are  not  al- 
lowed to  give  a  cent  toward  the  emblem.  This 
pennant  of  the  Lancaster  is  said  to  have  been 
one  of  the  longest  ever  flown.  The  men  simply 

got  the  biggest  one  they  could  for  their  money. 
224 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  OLD  NAVY 

Sometimes  these  pennants  are  365  feet  long — 
a  foot  for  every  day  in  the  year.  Sometimes 
other  lengths  are  given  to  them  for  some  special 
reason.  On  this  occasion  the  men  determined 
to  do  the  best  they  could  for  the  old  ship  that 
was  about  to  die,  and  they  meant  to  make  the 
sunset  of  her  career  as  glorious  as  they  could 
in  their  humble  way. 

As  the  Lancaster  sailed  out  of  Yokohama 
harbor  this  pennant  snapped  a  final  good-bye, 
and  when  the  ship  reached  the  open  sea  it  was 
taken  down,  not  to  be  raised  until  the  next  har- 
bor was  reached.  The  old  ship  made  six  stops 
coming  home,  and  on  each  occasion  the  pennant 
was  hoisted  to  the  main,  and  the  men  at  the 
mizzen  saw  that  it  flew  clear  of  the  rigging. 
An  inflated  bladder  at  the  end  emphasized  the 
swaying,  and  the  tars  stole  many  a  glance  of 
pride  as  the  ship  came  sailing  in.  That  pen- 
nant was  theirs,  and  the  officers  had  no  share 
in  its  glory.  At  last  Gibraltar  was  cleared, 
and  the  ship  started  for  New  York.  When 
opposite  Tompkinsville  on  Staten  Island  the 
pennant  was  broken  out  for  the  last  time  on 
entering  port,  and  the  sea-service  of  the  Lan- 
caster was  ended.  The  vessel  came  up  the  bay 
proudly,  as  if  unwilling  to  acknowledge  her 

225 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

years.  For  a  few  days  the  crew  remained  on 
board,  and  then  in  twos  and  threes  they  were 
paid  off  and  they  left  the  ship. 

There  used  to  be  some  ceremony  when  a  ship 
with  or  without  a  history  went  out  of  commis- 
sion. The  crew  used  to  be  summoned,  after 
having  been  paid  off,  and  then  the  flag  would 
be  hauled  down,  orders  for  the  proceeding 
having  been  read.  After  the  men,  each  with 
his  bag  on  his  back,  would  be  marched  to  the 
gates  of  the  navy-yard,  where  ranks  would  be 
broken,  and  the  men  would  be  free  to  go  where 
they  pleased.  Of  course  most  of  them  elected 
to  go  back  into  the  navy  after  a  time  of  recrea- 
tion ;  but,  nevertheless,  their  muster  -  out  was 
marked  by  some  ceremony,  and  that  always 
pleased  Jack  immensely.  The  omission  of  this 
ceremony  in  the  case  of  the  Lancaster  simply 
marked  the  march  of  the  new  life  in  the  navy, 
which  cares  little  for  sentimental  things  when 
the  search  for  the  practical  is  on. 

It  is  this  practical  spirit  of  recent  times 
that  troubles  the  old  sailor  a  good  deal.  It 
makes  his  quarters  on  the  new  ships  far  more 
comfortable  for  him,  but  he  is  conservative  to 
a  degree  that  comports  with  his  dignity,  and 
he  will  tell  you  solemnly  that  he  prefers  the 

226 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  OLD  NAVY 

old  wooden  ships,  with  their  sails,  to  the  new 
ships  that  are  built  to  kill  and  destroy,  and 
have  no  regard  for  the  old  sailor's  superstitions 
and  conservatism.  Jack  still  likes  to  see  the 
sails  set,  and  the  ship  bending  under  them.  He 
cares  nothing  for  speed.  What  he  wants  is  the 
good  old  salt  breeze,  and  the  wind  howling 
through  the  rigging.  He  prefers  sails  to  ven- 
tilators, and  he  is  fonder  of  the  wind  than  he  is 
of  steam-engines  down  in  the  hold.  All  the 
fighting  that  he  read  of  as  a  boy  was,  and  all 
the  fighting  that  he  has  ever  heard  of  have  been 
done  in  wooden  ships.  When  a  ball  struck  an 
old  wooden  ship  it  made  a  hole  that  could  be 
mended,  perhaps,  but  he  does  not  like  to  think 
much  about  a  hole  in  a  steel  ship  that  is  a  mere 
shell,  after  all.  These  new  ships  are  thin,  frail 
things,  and  the  wooden  ships  were  of  thick  oak 
that  would  swell  up  when  a  missile  broke 
through  the  sides.  Jack  likes  to  look  down 
an  old-fashioned  gun-deck,  with  its  rows  of 
startling  cannon.  This  looks  like  real  war. 
On  the  new  ships  the  guns  are  scattered  about, 
and  although  they  can  do  ten  times  the  work  of 
the  old  guns,  they  haven't  the  martial  appear- 
ance of  the  old-time  wooden  ship. 

Therefore  if  you  go  over  to  the  navy-yard 
227 


ADVENTURES  OF  UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

and  find  any  of  the  very  old  men  on  a  new  ship 
of  the  navy,  you  must  be  prepared  to  hear  a 
tale  of  protest  against  the  new  navy  ideas. 

Another  reason  why  the  veteran  sailor  does 
not  like  to  note  the  disappearance  of  the  old 
ships  is  that  the  names  of  the  new  ones  do  not 
strike  his  fancy.  He  would  rather  serve  on  a 
ship  called  the  Brandywine  than  on  the  Cin- 
cinnati; the  Congress  means  more  to  him  than 
the  Colorado;  the  Hancock  inspires  him  more 
to  deeds  of  valor  than  the  Newark.  In  other 
words,  Jack  likes  a  ship  that  commemorates 
by  name  some  man  or  place  connected  with 
notable  displays  of  patriotism  and  bravery.  He 
would  rather  fight  in  these  days,  if  fight  he 
must,  on  a  ship  named  Paul  Jones  than  he 
would  on  a  ship  named  Pennsylvania,  and  he 
thinks  he  would  fight  better  and  longer. 

Before  the  Lancaster  retired,  the  wooden 
ship  whose  loss  was  felt  the  keenest  by  the 
whole  nation  was  the  Kearsarge.  That  vessel 
was  wrecked  on  Roncador  Reef  early  in  1894. 
Every  school-boy  has  heard  something  of  the 
story  of  the  Kearsarge  and  the  way  she  sank 
the  Alabama,  in  the  civil  war,  off  the  coast 
of  France.  The  Alabama  was  the  Confederate 

privateer  that  was  fitted  out  in  England,  and 
228 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  OLD  NAVY 

for  two  years  made  havoc  with  Northern  ship- 
ping on  the  high  seas.     The  Kearsarge,  prac- 
tically a  sister  ship  to  the  Lancaster,  found  her 
in  Cherbourg  harbor,  and  waited  five  days  for 
her  to  come  out   and  fight  in  the  open  sea. 
They  were   apparently   equally  matched,   but 
the  Kearsarge's  captain  had  hung  anchor  chains 
along  the   sides   for   armor,   and  had  covered 
them  with  boards  to   hide  them.      The  fight 
lasted  only  one  hour,  and  took  place  on  Sunday 
morning,  June  15,  1864.     The  Kearsarge  kept 
steaming  around  the  Alabama,  and  deliberate- 
ly and  with  great  care  fired  her  broadsides. 
The  Alabama's  shot  went  wild  to  a  great  ex- 
tent.     The  Alabama  began   to  sink,   and   her 
commander  offered  to  surrender.     Before  the 
offer  could   be  accepted   she  went  down,   and 
many  of  her  crew  were  saved  by  an  English 
yacht.     This  was  the  most  notable  naval  en- 
gagement of  the  civil  war,  with  the  exception 
of  the  fight  between  the  Monitor  and  Merrimac. 
It  was  a  crowning  achievement,  and  the  Kear- 
sarge was  very  dear  to  the  American  people. 
It  is  probable  that  she  would  have  been  kept  in 
commission   as   long  as   the   rats   would   have 
stayed  aboard.     It  is  easy  to  see,  in  view  of 
her  service,  why  the  naval  men  wanted  to  have 

229 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

a  battle-ship  named  the  Kearsarge,  and  why 
they  thought  that  such  a  ship  would  always  do 
valorous  duty. 

It  is  a  satisfaction  to  the  sailormen  that  Far- 
ragut's  old  flag-ship,  the  Hartford,  has  been 
preserved,  and  that  an  exception  is  made  in 
her  favor  to  the  law  which  requires  that  when 
the  repairs  to  a  vessel  will  cost  more  than  a 
certain  percentage  of  the  value  of  the  ship,  she 
must  be  condemned  and  put  out  of  the  service. 

It  was  on  April  24,  1862,  that  the  Hartford 
performed  her  most  distinguished  services.  She 
led  the  fleet  that  ran  the  famous  Mississippi 
batteries,  and  encountered  the  deadly  fire  from 
Forts  Philip  and  Jackson  at  New  Orleans. 
Naval  experts  said  this  feat  could  not  be  done, 
but  Farragut  said,  "  Go  ahead,"  and  a  mag- 
nificent display  of  courage  the  commander  of 
the  fleet  and  all  his  subordinates  gave,  and  the 
good  old  ship  Hartford  responded  with  eager- 
ness to  every  call  made  on  her.  The  Missis- 
sippi was  opened,  and  a  great  blow  had  been 
dealt  to  the  Confederacy.  It  was  to  the  Hart- 
ford's rigging  that  Farragut  was  lashed  at  Mo- 
bile, and  the  government  will  probably  preserve 
her  with  as  much  care  as  the  old  Constitution 
of  the  war  of  1812  is  preserved.  The  Hartford 

230 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  OLD  NAVY 

is  now  at  Annapolis,  a  source  of  inspiration  to 
the  naval  cadets. 

The  Constitution,  or  "  Old  Ironsides,"  as 
she  is  more  familiarly  known,  is  the  most 
famous  of  all  the  wooden  ships  that  we  have 
preserved.  Time  and  time  again  did  she  van- 
quish the  English  ships  in  the  war  of  1812, 
and  proud  were  the  people  of  her  captures. 
Probably  the  most  thrilling  incident  of  her 
career  was  her  escape  from  seven  English  men- 
of-war,  after  an  exciting  chase  of  nearly  three 
days  and  nights.  The  chase  began  on  July 
17th,  1812.  The  Constitution  was  out  for  a 
long  cruise,  and  was  weighted  down  with  stores. 
The  sea  was  calm,  and  no  wind  was  stirring. 
Captain  Hull  put  out  his  men  in  boats  to  tow 
the  ship.  They  pulled  valiantly,  and  as  night 
came  on  a  "  kedge  "  anchor  was  run  out  half 
a  mile  ahead.  The  crew  on  the  ship  kept  pull- 
ing on  this,  and  the  Britishers  didn't  discover 
for  a  long  time  the  secret.  Finally  the  English 
saw  it,  and  adopted  the  same  tactics,  and  by 
doubling  up  their  crews  began  to  pull  their 
famous  ship  Shannon  near  to  the  Constitution. 

A  light  breeze  sprang  up,  and  saved  the 
American  ship  for  the  time.  There  was  a  calm 
the  next  day,  and  the  agonizing  struggle  went 

231 


ADVENTURES  OF   UNCLE  SAM'S  SAILORS 

on.  The  next  night  another  light  breeze  came 
up,  and  the  tired  sailors  obtained  a  little  sleep. 
The  next  day  there  came  a  sharp  breeze  after 
many  hours  of  struggle.  The  Constitution 
trimmed  her  sails  to  catch  it ;  the  boats  dropped 
back  and  the  men  were  caught  up  as  the  ship 
gathered  headway.  The  Guerriere  of  the  Eng- 
lish fleet  came  abeam  as  the  wind  freshened, 
and  fired  a  broadside;  but  the  shots  fell  short, 
and  the  Constitution's  men  ignored  them,  and 
calmly  went  about  straightening  up  their  ves- 
sel, as  if  they  had  just  left  port  and  such  a 
thing  as  an  enemy  was  unheard  of. 

We  hear  laments  frequently  that  the  old 
soldiers  are  dropping  away  fast.  I  always 
share  that  feeling,  but  I  also  include  in  it  those 
wooden  ships  of  the  navy  —  scarred  veterans 
most  of  them  are,  worthy  of  the  abiding  re- 
membrance of  a  grateful  people. 


THE    END 


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